


Want you to want me

by lorinhazuzu



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cliche, Fluff, M/M, Popular!Louis, football team, high school stuff, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-10
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:16:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 62,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/837820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorinhazuzu/pseuds/lorinhazuzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is the popular football player, there’s nothing he wants he can’t get.</p><p>He wants Harry, but Harry is not impressed.</p><p>(Where Harry gets to wear Louis’ letterman jacket, with a scowl on his face, whilst being secretly pleased about it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one shot, but it got a bit too long. Hope you like it :)

“So what do you say?”

Harry blinked, astonished at the question, he had no idea what to say. His thoughts ranged from ‘is this a joke’ to ‘he can’t be serious’ and back to ‘is this a joke’ again.

Louis Tomlinson had just asked him out.

He stared wide eyed at Louis, trying to formulate an answer. It was hard when Louis was so close. He wasn’t a particularly tall or big guy, but he still managed to loom over Harry, crowding into his personal space with a hand resting lazily next to the younger’s head, on the row of lockers behind him, which he had been cornered into a few minutes ago.

“So?” Louis prompted, confident smile stretched out on his face.

Harry swallowed, eyes flickering behind Louis where half the people walking by were staring shamelessly at the two. He caught a glimpse of Louis’ friends and teammates, all easily spotted thanks to their bright red letter jackets. They were standing not too far away from them, dirty grins on their faces. Harry focused back on Louis.  
“I…”  
“Yes?” Louis licked his lips expectantly.  
“No thanks” he muttered, and before the shocked “what?!” had even escaped Louis’ lips, Harry was already sneaking away under Louis’ outstretched arm, and into the push-and-pull of students in the hallway.

He could hear the loud laughs and snickering that he was sure came from Louis’ teammates, and he shook his head in disbelief before turning a corner and pushing the memory out of his mind.

.  
.  
.

He sat by himself at lunch. He didn’t mind; not being noticed in school was his goal in life. He ignored everybody and everybody ignored him. He was happy with the arrangement.

Nodding his head along to the music playing in his ear, his fingers played with the bunch of grapes he brought from home and he nibbled on a couple of them before changing songs, turning up the volume so he didn’t hear the loud chatter of the student population.

He looked down at his phone once he felt it vibrating, immediately answering his sister’s message, she was one of the few people he ever bothered to talk to.

Catching movement on his peripheral and looked up quickly, just as someone sat down on his table, right in front of him.

He blinked, eyes focusing on the grinning face of one Louis Tomlinson.  
Already mentally tired, he pulled out his earphones.  
“What?” he mumbled.  
“You said no to me” Louis pointed out unnecessarily.   
Harry shrugged, looking behind Louis at the table where the popular boy usually sat with his friends. Like earlier, they were eagerly watching the exchange.  
“No one ever says no to me”   
Harry told himself this wasn’t the time to roll his eyes.  
“I see what you’re doing though”  
Harry stared at him bemusedly.  
“You’re playing hard to get” his smile grew into a grin, pleased with himself, as if he’d just solved the hardest math problem.  
“You can stop now, you caught my attention” his lips curled, smug.  
Harry stared some more.  
“Here, give me your number” Louis took his phone out, but when Harry made no movement to take it from his hands, Louis pushed the phone forcefully at him.  
“Go on” the irritation colouring his tone had Harry quickly typing into the phone given to him.  
“I’ll put you under Curly” he said once he had his phone back, “cause of your wonderful hair” he reached out, grabbing a handful of Harry’s messy hair and tugging playfully. Harry flinched back, eyes wide, but Louis only sent him a crooked grin, before going back to his table.

To where he belonged, Harry thought as he watched with alert eyes as Louis and the blonde boy Niall high fived, bright grins on their faces.

.  
.  
.

“Hey H, how was school?”

Harry looked around. His mum was spread out on the couch, feet up. She was still in her work clothes, so Harry knew she had probably just arrived home.  
“The usual” he shrugged, falling on to the armchair and dropping his bag on the floor next to him.  
“Except” he frowned, suddenly remembering, “that Louis Tomlinson guy asked me out today”  
His mum looked at him surprised, before the corners of her lips turned up into a smile.  
“Well that’s good isn’t it? What did you say?”  
“Not really, I said no”  
“What?” she startled, “but why? Isn’t he the boy you had a crush on?”  
Cheeks warming, Harry shamefully remembered that phase of his life.  
“That was ages ago mum” he mumbled, eyes focusing on the telly. The Big Bang Theory was on. It was his favourite program.  
“Well you only told me about it, what? Three months ago?”  
Harry shrugged again, and thankfully she let the subject drop.

It was true that he’d had a crush on Louis Tomlinson. It was no secret to anyone that Louis was bisexual. 

It made Harry burn with embarrassment whenever he remembered that time when he was so young and naïve , believing that Louis’ sexuality meant that he had a chance with him. And yes, that had been three months ago, but a few weeks of watching the guy were enough to convince Harry that he was just a typical popular guy; cocky and arrogant and a jerk.

Whatever. He was over it anyway.

.  
.  
.

Maths wasn’t nearly one of his favourite subjects. It was a compulsory subject at his school however, so every junior had to take it, but Harry had resigned himself to the fact that he was definitely not going to pass his exam. It didn’t really matter, maths wouldn’t help him at all with what he wanted to do when he left school.

In fact, he often skipped the class and subsequent headache altogether.

Sadly, he had decided to turn up for the dreaded class today, and it had only taken Louis Tomlinson walking in with the rest of his little gang, dropping backwards on the seat in front of Harry, and looking at him expectantly for Harry to regret his decision.

So really, not long at all.

It wasn’t hard to forget that he had this class with Tomlinson, Harry barely ever showed up after all, and when he did he ignored everyone and tuned out everything the teacher was saying. There was also the fact that Louis had never shown any interest in him before yesterday.

It was all very suspicious.

“So Curly” he started, hand reaching out for Harry’s hair, though the latter quickly pulled away before he could grasp it.  
Louis let his hand drop slowly, something like disappointment etched on his face, “I tried calling you last night”  
Harry watched Louis’ tapping fingers on the table as he talked, only looking up at his pause.  
“Some guy named David answered” Louis’ eyes narrowed. Harry gulped.  
“Sneaky, sneaky” he tsked “you gave me a fake number”  
They both ignored the snicker coming from Louis’ friend, sat a couple of tables away from them, and very obviously eavesdropping on their conversation.

Harry had given Louis a fake number. Mostly because he hadn’t thought he’d actually call.  
“Give me your phone”  
“What?”  
“Give me your phone Curly” he said again, hand outstretched, and eyes narrowed into slits.  
Meekly, Harry passed Louis his phone, mentally cursing the late teacher, who could have stopped all of this from happening, if he’d just bothered to be on time. Harry was never showing up to his class again.

Louis grinned pleased as he typed away, while Harry breathed out in relief. He seemed to always find himself torn between feeling scared or annoyed, whenever Louis was around.

Once Louis had finished saving Harry’s real number, he gave him his phone back, and before Harry could dodge away from the grabby fingers, they had already closed around a bunch of his hair. Louis rubbed at Harry’s scalp, and Harry tried hard not to let his eyes close at the feeling.

Once Louis took his hand away, Harry’s eyes snapped open and he realised he’d failed at not closing them. He took in Louis’ smug expression with a jolt of annoyance, mad at both Louis and himself.  
“Later Curly” he called over his shoulder.

Harry scowled at his retreating back.

.  
.  
.

He was helping his mum with dinner when his phone went off, startling him out of his chopping haze.  
“Won’t you get that H?”  
“Yeah” he washed his hands quickly, dashing towards the living room and drying his hands on his jeans as he went. He very nearly tapped the answer bottom; the only people to ever call him were either his sister or Nick, and they were also the only people (along with his mum) that he always wanted and never minded talking to.

His eyes however, caught onto the caller ID, and his thumbs stopped a millimetre away from touching the lit up screen.

Louis the Tommo flickered away and Harry couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the obnoxious name. He dropped the now silent phone back on the sofa, and went back to the kitchen.  
“Everything okay?” his mum asked from her guarding post by the stove, where she was stirring the bubbling white mass of rice.  
“Yeah.. um, it was just uh, Louis Tomlinson?”

Anne’s eyes flickered up towards him, and though she tried to not let it show, there was a quirk to her lips that made Harry think she was happy about the fact.

Obviously she hadn’t believed him when he told her he was over his little crush.  
“Oh? What did he want?”  
Harry shook his head, amused by his mother’s attempt at nonchalance.  
“I don’t know. I didn’t pick it up” he went back to his vegetables.  
“Harry! That’s rude”  
Harry chuckled, “never mind that mum. Can we get this done? I’m starving”

During the course of the meal, his phone rang a total of three more times before he decided to put it on silence. 

He looked down at his risotto in disbelief, and tried to ignore his mum as she hid a smile behind her wine glass, he’d just have to avoid Louis for a couple of days. It couldn’t be that hard, and soon Louis would forget all about him and move on to the next person. 

He told himself the heavy feeling in his stomach was due to the amount of rice he’d just eaten.

.  
.  
.

It wasn’t very hard, avoiding Louis the next day. It was a Thursday and he realised with a jolt, now that he took time to examine his timetable, that Thursdays were the only day of the week when he didn’t have any lessons with Louis at all.

Lucky Thursdays.

.  
.  
.

Art was another painful experience, as usual. He actually liked the subject, but unfortunately his teacher seemed to like him too. A bit too much actually.

It wasn’t unusual for Ms Brown to hold him back after classes with the pretence of talking to him about his current project, all the while smiling too wide, and batting her eyes at him an unhealthy amount of times.

It was common knowledge that kids would find themselves with a crush on their teacher at least once throughout their school career, but until Ms Brown, Harry had no idea that the opposite could happen.

Ms Brown was an attractive woman, slim with long wavy hair, and the youngest teacher in school, as she liked to tell them. The problem was just that she was a woman… and a teacher, he amended.

Shaking his hair out of his eyes, he walked quickly. He was starving and Ms Brown had managed to talk most of his lunch time away. He definitely had to get better at cutting her short.

He stopped in his tracks at the sound of a loud laugh echoing through out the hallway, and recognising the voices, he peeked over a corner, hidden.  
“I still can’t believe you did that!” Louis’ blond friend, Niall, was saying, traces of laughter still in his voice.  
“He was annoying me”  
“Oh yeah, cause that’s the reason you punched him”  
There was a pause in their conversation, and Harry looked on wide eyed, his curiosity growing roots under him feet.  
“So” Niall started again, “where’s your little pet today? Haven’t seen him around”  
Immediately Harry’s eyes narrowed, “I haven’t either”. Harry couldn’t see Louis’ face, but something in his tone made Harry think he was frowning. He shook the thought away.  
“Have you called him yet?”  
Louis shut the door of his locker closed behind him, before leaning back on it, “yeah, but he won’t answer the stupid phone!” he whined.  
“Shame, maybe you should just give up on this one eh?” he leaned back opposite Louis, so they were facing each other.  
“No! He can’t say no to me, nobody ever says no to me”  
“I’ve said no to you plenty of times”  
Louis scoffed, “you know what I mean, you prat”  
Niall shrugged, “tough luck mate, hey how about you help me with that maths homework huh?” Niall threw an arm over Louis’ shoulder, and the two started walking away.  
“We don’t have homework Nialler”  
“Maybe you don’t. Bloody maths genius” Niall grumbled, shoving Louis sideways.  
“Hey!”

Harry huffed to himself as he walked away in the opposite direction. He was nobody’s pet, especially not Louis’. That brat. He kicked his toes on the ground angrily, hunger forgotten.

.  
.  
.

History was his last lesson of the day. It was as much of a pain as Maths, but he figured his mum wouldn’t be too happy with him failing more than one subject. She didn’t care about maths much, knowing Harry had gotten his inability to understand any of it from her, (though she didn’t know about him not even showing up for the lessons, thankfully) but he didn’t want to find out what she’d do if he failed anything else.

The French Revolution wasn’t the most interesting subject, and as their teacher droned on about the downfall of King Louis XVI, Harry found himself focusing on the conversation of the two girls sitting in front of him.

Girl number one – Cassie? Lacy? He didn’t know, was whispering none too quietly to girl number two.

Chin in hand, Harry looked back up at their teacher. The poor guy just kept going, monotonous voice explaining about how people rebelled against King Louis’ rule, to a bunch of disinterested teenagers. He didn’t bother to scold the chatting girls, or the dozing boy in the corner, he never did anymore.

Harry focused back on the two once he heard Louis’ name leaving girl number one’s mouth.  
“So, I was in line yeah? And like, he just came up to me, and put his arm around my shoulder”  
Girl number two nodded along excitedly, though Harry wasn’t surprised to see a glint of jealousy in the girl’s eye.  
“And he like, he brought me to his table and I had lunch with them”  
“Shut up” Number two said, jaw slack.  
“Yep” smug, she stood up as the bell rang, “and he asked for my number, said we could go out sometime” she smiled slyly, “you know what that means” she looked at her friend, obviously having left the best for last, before flicking her hair and calling out a ‘see you later’ to number two.

Harry watched the girls go with a frown on his face. He’d been right about Louis forgetting about him. He just didn’t think it would happen this soon.

.  
.  
.

He tried to focus on his homework, but it was hard, when listening to music and letting his mind wander were such better, easier options.

The buzzing of his phone caught his attention two seconds later, and with a relieved sigh, he pushed his books away to check it. He was nearly finished anyway.

‘Hey H, gonna be home late, don’t wait up. I’ll see you tomorrow’

It was from his mum. She was out with a few friends tonight. Harry usually did wait up for her, but only if he didn’t have to be up by seven AM the next day. Sleep was very important after all.

He wondered whether he should get back to his homework, but it wasn’t due in until Monday. It could wait.

He scooted down on the bed, so he was facing the ceiling and tried to remember where he’d left his ipod. The sound of his phone ringing startled him out of his thoughts, and he rolled sideways on the bed so he could look at the blaring device on his bedside table.

Louis the Tommo.

He rolled his eyes at the name again, wondering whether he should change it, or even delete it, but he argued with himself that it was better to know that Louis was the one calling, so he didn’t make the mistake of answering it.

He turned away from the phone with an angry huff. Didn’t Louis have anything better to do? Some other person to go call and bother? Shouldn’t he be calling that stupidly smug Katy girl?

Sulking, he stared at the ceiling some more and ignored the continuous ringing of his phone. He wouldn’t let anyone mess around with him, not even Louis Tomlinson.

.  
.  
.

The only lesson he had with Louis the next was day was maths, he was happy to find out, and seeing as he never went to it he relaxed, stopped looking over his shoulder every thirty seconds, thinking that as long as he stayed out of Louis’ sight, the thought of him wouldn’t cross the older boy’s mind. Out of sight out of mind.

He was mistaken. Before he’d even managed to get to his first lesson, someone shouted “hey Harry!” across the corridor and out of reflex Harry turned around, receiving a few dirty looks from other students for blocking their way, and he saw Liam Payne, another of Louis’ friends standing a few meters away and staring at him before turning around, “Oi Louis, I found him” he shouted again over the crowd, and Harry’s gaze snapped in the same direction as Liam’s, catching a glimpse of the boy he’d been trying to avoid. 

Eyes widening Harry turned and walked briskly away, bumping into a few people and hoping the busy hallway would hide him from view.

.  
.  
.

He was spotted again a few hours later, by Stanley Lucas and this time, there were no other students around to hide him from view.  
“Oi, you!” Stanley called out, and having learnt from his last mistake, Harry didn’t stop walking. Instead he quickened his pace, hearing a “wait” come from the other boy which Harry thought was especially stupid; he obviously wouldn’t just stand there and wait.

He heard the sound of footsteps running away and frowned in confusion before –   
“Hey Tommo hurry up, he’s here”  
And to his horror, Louis’ voice answered back.  
“What?” was the last thing he heard before running.  
There wasn’t anywhere to go where he wouldn’t be easily seen, so hoping no teachers were inside he clumsily fell into a classroom, closing the door softly behind him, relieved at the lack of people in the room. He slid down, so he was crouching, hidden behind the door, and out of view, if Louis was to look through the little glass window on the door.

His breathing was a little erratic, and he wondered what the hell was going on. It felt like he was being hunted.

.  
.  
.  
He didn’t go to the cafeteria at lunch, choosing to go outside instead. He laid down on one of the bleachers by the football field, one foot set on the top of the metal bench, the other firmly on the grass below him.

It was a cold January, but the sky was blue, and cloudless, and it was nice, even if breathing in the cold, humid air made his nose sting.

He heard the bell going, signalling the end of lunch, but with a mental apology sent towards his mother, he stayed where he was, music playing loud enough in his ears to cover the loud crunch-crunch cause by his snack. Salt and vinegar crisps; his favourite.

When the bell went again, just over an hour later, he sighed reluctantly but sat up, gathering his stuff and shoving it in his bag. He threw it across his shoulder, took out his earphones, and looked up, surprised at the sound of voices approaching.

It was the football team. Or half the football team anyway, there were too few of them there, but still, Louis was there, right in the middle of the group, walking across the field and towards him.

Grimacing, Harry started to walk, not too quickly as to not catch their attention. They seemed entertained enough within their group, laughing loudly and shoving each other around. Harry rolled his eyes at the ground. The scene looked like one taken straight out of those clichéd high school movies.

His mouth curled up in disdain before quickly popping open with a yelp of surprise as he was yanked around by the arm, coming face to face with another one of Louis’ teammates.  
“Hey Lou, look what I found” he grinned, still gripping him by the arm.  
“What?” came from a few feet away.  
“It’s your little friend”  
“I’m not little” Harry said defensively, annoyed at being called little when he was at least a couple of inches taller than the boy still holding on to him.  
He’d barely finished speaking when there was a commotion at the front of the group, “Curly!” Louis showed up seconds later, “there you are. You know I was starting to think you’re avoiding me”  
Harry stared at him silently.

Louis’ eyes narrowed, and suddenly the group of goofy boys seemed a lot more menacing. Harry squirmed uncomfortably in the unknown boy’s grip, and saw how Louis’ eyes followed the movement. He stiffened.  
“Oi, Danny, what are you doing? Let go of him”  
“What?” the boy, Danny, seemed startled as if he’d forgotten he was still holding on to Harry, but he let go immediately.

Harry rubbed his wrist, mouth pursed.  
“Oh. Sorry mate” Danny said sheepishly.  
Harry looked up at him surprised at the apology, but thinking Danny looked genuine Harry offered him a quirk of his lips that was almost a smile.  
“Right” Louis cut in, putting an arm around Harry’s shoulder and leading him away from the others.  
“So” he said once they were out of earshot.  
“What” Harry shrugged off his arm, but Louis’ smile didn’t falter.  
“You weren’t in maths today”  
Harry lifted up one shoulder in a half shrug, eyes stubbornly focused at the grass field. He blinked when a pair of bright red shoes entered his sight, and looked up quickly at Louis, who was now standing in front of him.  
“You don’t like maths much, do you?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well,” Louis grinned, “you’re never there”  
“Right” he muttered, though he was honestly surprised that Louis had noticed that.  
“And, you didn’t pick up my call” he sounded more accusing now, smile dimmed.  
“Yeah.. well.” He looked away from Louis, unable to hold his unwavering gaze.  
Louis took two steps forward, and he as so close now, Harry was forced to look at him, finding it hard to focus on anything else.  
“Why won’t you pick up my calls?” Harry’s breath hitched at the softness of Louis’ voice, incapable of looking away even as Louis leaned in so close their noses nearly touched.

Louis tilted his head sideways, quirking his lips up into a smile, “you know, I got your number for a reason”  
“Which is?”  
“To talk to you?” Louis arched an eyebrow at him, amused.  
Harry scoffed, “oh, so that’s why you get people’s numbers. Right.”  
Thrown, Louis frowned “what do you mean?”  
Harry huffed, mouth pursed, “just leave me alone Tomlinson. Go call your girlfriend, Cassie or whatever” he turned around, ready to be done with all of this, but two hands on his shoulders stopped him.  
“What are you talking about?” Louis asked once they were facing each other again.  
Harry shrugged, stubbornly silent.  
“Harry?” he asked sternly, making it obvious he wouldn’t let Harry go without an answer.  
“I meant” Harry started reluctantly, “exactly what I said. You should go call your girlfriend and leave me alone”  
“I don’t have a girlfriend Harry”  
Harry humphed, “that’s not what Lacy said”  
Louis looked at him stumped “Who’s Lacy?”  
Harry stopped for a second, “that blond girl with the weird make up” he let out an impatient snuff at Louis’ confused look, “the one you asked out yesterday!”  
“I ask out a lot of people in one day Curly” He smirked, but it only made Harry angrier, whirling around and determined to stamp his foot hard on the ground as he walked away. His plan was once again thwarted by the annoying boy, and Harry found himself, once again, looking at a very smug Louis.  
“You’re jealous” he accused, smile giddy.  
Harry flushed angrily “I’m not!”  
“You are!” he laughed delighted and Harry grit his teeth. Louis was so…infuriating.  
“Whatever” he muttered defiantly.  
He turned away, and this time Louis let him go, shouting “her name’s Stacy by the way!”   
Scowling, Harry finally got to do his grand, stomping exit.

.  
.  
.

Louis called again that night. Harry ignored both the phone and his mother’s amused looks, focusing his attention on the tv.

He lost count of how many times Louis called (seven) before the phone finally stayed silent for more than five minutes. Harry sighed, only then noticing how tense he’d been. He rolled his shoulders, feeling more relaxed now that he knew Louis was done for the day, but the thought had barely left when there was a loud ping! coming from his phone. 

He jumped surprised and whipped around to look at his phone, wanting to make sure it wasn’t his sister or Nick, Nick was forever texting him weird stuff. It wasn’t. He could just barely make out, from his place on the couch, the name Louis the Tommo.

He rolled his eyes. It was a reflex reaction by now and he wondered why he hadn’t changed the stupid name yet. 

Stubborn, and ignoring his mother’s “you should really just answer him”, he turned his phone on silence again, but even though his favourite program was on, he couldn’t concentrate on it, eyes going from the telly to the phone buzzing away sitting at the centre table, every few minutes. 

It was just gone half past nine when he gave up, telling his mum he was turning in for the day, and taking his phone with him upstairs.

He went through the routine of brushing his teeth (twice) and patting at his face with some of the acne cream his mum had bought him. Being sixteen, nearly seventeen, wasn’t good for his skin. 

He changed out of his clothes before padding back to his room in boxers and socks, also known as his pyjamas.

When he was finally in bed, and there was nothing else to do besides sleep, he concentrated on not thinking of anything, closing his eyes only to open them again at the sudden light behind his eyelids. It was his phone.

He sighed tiredly, only then realising how much harder it was to ignore texts. Calls were easy, but texts were just there, on his phone, not even a feet away. He was curious.

He reached for it, thinking he’d have to check his phone eventually, and it might as well be now.

20:03  
‘Harry?’

20:09  
‘Haaarrrreeh’

20:16  
‘Will you answer me already!’

20:20  
‘I will just keep calling you’

20:23  
‘You can’t get rid of me you know’

20:28  
‘You can stop this whole playing hard to get thing you know? You don’t need it with a face like yours’

And on it went. Harry didn’t bother to check the rest, instead he felt annoyed at the fact Louis thought he was playing hard to get. He scoffed, as if.

Annoyance wasn’t all he felt however.

‘With a face like yours’. Was that a good thing? He wondered. It sounded like a compliment. He couldn’t help but jump up off the bed. He inspected himself in the mirror, leaning in close to look at his face. He wasn’t so bad. He didn’t think he was ugly at least, but maybe he was biased.

His face was slim now, less chubby than it had been a few months ago. He always thought his features were too big for his face, big eyes, big nose, big mouth, but he didn’t think the end result was unpleasant. He smiled and his dimples came to life in the mirror. He could pass as cute, not gorgeous or handsome, not like Louis himself, but still.

He frowned suddenly, and saw the colour rise up to his face. What was he doing, acting like some insecure teenage girl just because someone had given him a kind-of compliment.

He wrinkled his nose at the thought and promptly shoved his phone under his bed, where he wouldn’t see it or hear it until the next day when the alarm went off.

.  
.  
.

The next week went the same way. Harry spent his time at school hiding, which was a lot harder than he’d first thought, seeing as he had to start dodging the rest of Louis’ teammates as well, since they all seemed to be on the look out for him.

Louis had also started calling and texting at school. He received more detentions in a day than he had in his last three years at this school. After that he’d learnt to either turn off his phone or just leave it in his locker.

His birthday came and went, thankfully free of any big, celebratory events, and it was only a couple of days after that, that his patience finally ran out.

Harry hadn’t had a good day. He’d slept in and ended up running out of the house, hair a mess and bag open wide as he shoved his homework inside. He was late to his first lesson which lead to a telling off that lasted over ten minutes and felt like an hour. He managed to lose his homework, probably in his mad dash to get to school on time, except his teacher wouldn’t believe that, so he left the lesson with a detention to serve.

Things hadn’t looked up at lunch, because in his hurry to leave the house, he’d forgotten his lunch, and adding that to his lack of breakfast that morning, Harry was very hungry, and grumpy and annoyed, and really just ready for the day to be over, but it wasn’t. 

Because of his detention at the end of the day, he ended up missing the bus, much like in the morning, so he had to make his way back on foot, and just because this was obviously not his day, it started raining.

Brilliant.

He was barely past the front door when his phone rang. Harry cursed loudly, thankful his mum wasn’t home to hear it.

He pulled his phone out of his back-pocket with difficulty, due to the wet fabric of his jeans. He didn’t even look at the caller ID, he just answered it.  
“What, Louis, what?”  
There was an audible gasp at the other end “look who finally decided to pick up his phone! You know I hope you don’t just ignore everyone who calls you”

Harry grimaced at the squelching sound his wet shoes made as he kicked them off, “what is it Louis?” he asked again curtly.  
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed” he could hear the teasing tone of Louis’ voice, and he took a deep breath, begging any sort of holy entity for some patience.  
“What do you want?”  
“To talk to you! Haven’t we been over this already?”  
“I thought we agreed you’d leave me alone”

He heard some rustling before Louis voice came back, “does it look like I’m leaving you alone?”  
Harry sighed, suddenly tired, “why – what do you want from me?”

Harry had a feeling he knew what Louis wanted, he wasn’t an idiot, but he thought it probably would be better to hear it from Louis instead of assuming anything.

There was a pause, before “I want you to go out with me” Harry ignored his skipping heart, focusing on how cheerful Louis sounded, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven, make sure to look pretty yeah?” and the line went dead.

Harry glared hatefully at the black device in his hand, as if it was Louis Tomlinson himself. He couldn’t believe Louis. Telling him that they were going out, assuming that he was going to say yes.

He was such a typical jock, conceited, cocky and just so incredibly annoying. Harry wasn’t going anywhere with that ignorant prick.

.  
.  
.

 

The next day was Friday, and Harry had never been more grateful for the end of the week.

Thankfully waking up on time, he had time to have breakfast and caught his mum just in time to give her a kiss goodbye, before she left for work.

The first thing he saw when he arrived at school was Louis. He was standing by his locker with his back to Harry, chatting with Liam, Niall and Zayn, all of them wearing their letterman jackets.

It was ridiculous; it was a wonder how the school’s cheerleaders didn’t walk around in their cheerleading uniform.

Deciding this was a sign that he shouldn’t procrastinate, he carefully approached the small group, relieved that at least there were only four of them. Still standing a meter away he saw that Zayn had noticed his approach, mouth curling up.

Before Zayn could announce his presence for him, Harry leaned forward and tapped Louis on the shoulder.

The boy didn’t even turn around, “not now babe” he threw over his shoulder. Harry cleared his throat, “Um, Louis?” he wondered if maybe all the rain he caught the day before had made him hallucinate the phone call. Maybe he didn’t have to worry about a supposed date at all –   
“Harry? Look who’s come out of hiding!” Louis announced loudly, “what’s up babe?” he leaned sideways and crossed his arms, resting his shoulder against his locker.  
“Uh” he spied the other three boys behind them, very obviously eavesdropping on their conversation.  
“Um, about last night – “  
He realised he’d used the wrong words when the boys started catcalling.  
“Alright Tommo!” Niall praised punching Louis’ shoulder lightly.

Though he was smiling – smirking wound be a better description – his eyes didn’t leave Harry.

Slightly uneasy, Harry decided to hurry up and hurry away from there. He couldn’t help but throw a disgruntled glare at the three boys, before focusing back on Louis, who looked amused now.  
“What about it?” Louis asked, his words doing nothing to disprove his friend’s thoughts.  
“Yeah, uh. I’m not going on a date with you”  
The lazy smile and confident look vanished at once.  
“Why not?” he pushed away from the locker, stepping towards Harry.

Harry wished he wouldn’t. This was one of the times where Louis didn’t look stupid or obnoxious, this was one of the times he looked intimidating.

Harry took a deep breath, “because I don’t want to” he told him before quickly walking away as fast as he could without actually running.

.  
.  
.

Sadly Fridays weren’t lucky Thursdays, though after the day he had yesterday he was starting to doubt the truth of it.

Fridays meant English, and English meant Louis, and Louis meant a serious consideration where Harry wondered whether he should skip his lesson or not.

He shook his head and told himself to stop being a coward.

Neither Louis nor Liam and Zayn were in there yet when he arrived, so he took his seat with a relieved exhale.

Louis was late, in fact he only arrived fifteen minutes into the lesson, Liam and Zayn barely a step behind.

The teacher had looked at them, rolled her eyes and continued his lesson. Harry pursed his mouth at the injustice, remembering the telling off and the detention he received for being late the day before.

He wondered if he was going crazy, but he could feel eyes on him throughout the whole lesson and he had no doubts as to whose they were.

There were still another five minutes to go, and the teacher was babbling away, something about overused metaphors and clichéd concepts, Harry wasn’t paying close attention, though he usually liked English. Instead, he already had his things packed away, and when the bell went, he was the first one out of his seat.

He hurried towards the cafeteria, wishing the day would end already.

After a bit more of pushing his way through, made easier by his size, he finally settled down at the table which he had claimed for himself nearly three years ago. 

He never shared a year at this school with his sister, she’d been a freshman in uni when he himself was starting high school. He thought that was too bad, he and Gemma were close, and her friends had always loved him growing up, and Harry had loved them in return, mostly because they were older, and not like the immature, over-dramatic kids his own age.

He took his lunch out and promised himself he’d call her later before the thought was chased out of his head by Louis’ sudden presence. He was standing in front of Harry’s table, knuckles resting on top of it, and he was smiling. 

That couldn’t be good.

“Hey Curly” he grinned down at him, “nice lunch?”  
Harry nodded, dumbfounded.  
Louis’ grin widened, “I’ll pick you up at seven yeah?”  
But it wasn’t a question, Louis wasn’t asking him, in fact Louis didn’t even pretend that he wanted an answer, already turning around to leave.  
“Are you mental?”  
The words escaped him before he had a chance to think them through. Louis turned back around so they were facing each other again, “well I did ask you out” he smiled.

Cocky bastard.

“No you didn’t” Harry snapped, standing up, “you didn’t ask me anything”  
Louis looked startled at the words, mouth opening to protest the statement, but Harry pressed on, “you just assumed. You’re so used to everyone saying yes to you, that you don’t even understand it when someone says no”  
“No one says no” Louis looked uneasy now.  
“I’m saying no!” Harry said exasperated, tone rising “you can’t have everything you want Louis”  
They stared at each other for a few seconds, the cafeteria felt strangely silent, and then he saw the infuriating smirk returning to Louis’ lips.  
“Yeah I can” he disagreed, and Harry honestly couldn’t think of anything to disprove him, Louis did get everything he wanted. Everything except –   
“Well you can’t have me” Harry muttered, gathering his things, “so stop calling, I don’t want your phone calls or your texts, and I certainly don’t want to go out with a cocky, arrogant jerk like you”

He stormed out of the cafeteria, for once not caring about what Louis and his teammates could do to him.

Still, he went home, ditching the rest of his classes and deciding that being a bit of a coward sometimes was good for his health.

.  
.  
.

Louis didn’t call him again, and for once he was able to have dinner without his phone ringing a ridiculous amount of time.

Harry didn’t know what time he fell asleep. Very late, he was willing to bet, vaguely remembering that it had been 2:41 the last time he’d checked the clock.

He wasn’t, therefore pleased to be woken up by the sound of his phone ringing, louder than it ever had, or so it seemed in his sleep-hazed mind.  
“H’llo” he mumbled into the phone.  
“Harold!” Nick’s cheerful voice greeted him back from the other end.

Harry had met Nick a couple of years ago. It was kind of Gemma’s fault that they’d met really.

Harry had gone over to visit Gemma in uni, and she’d taken him along to a party, eager to get started on her social life now that she was away from home. He’d lost sight of her barely five minutes after they arrived, leaving him with a couple of girlfriends and encouraging him to ‘have fun’.

Nick had found him only minutes after that.  
“You look a bit young to be here” he’d said and Harry had blinked at him, unfazed.  
“Probably” he’d agreed.  
“You don’t seem as wide eyed and in awe like the other freshmen though”  
Harry had shrugged, not seeing anything to be awestruck by. He’d told Nick that, and he’d grinned, there and then deciding he was going to keep him (his words).

They’d been friends ever since, and though most people found it odd to see a twenty year old hanging out with a fifteen year old boy, nobody said anything. Neither Gemma or his mum had been surprised, not batting an eyelid, when Harry had introduced Nick to them.

“Ugh” Harry groaned, face shoved into his pillow.  
“Up, up young one” Nick’s voice urged.  
“Too early” Harry grumbled back at him.  
“It’s noon.”  
“On a Saturday” Harry whined in response, though he sat up anyway, stretching his arms above himself before reaching for the phone again to hear Nick babbling away.  
“Regardless. Get up already, there’s this huge orange thing up in the sky today, and we shouldn’t waste the day away sleeping”  
“What?” Harry asked, mind befuddled and stubbornly clinging to sleep.  
“The sun Harold, the sun! Dear god, have you always been this slow? Don’t answer that” he said quickly and Harry closed his mouth again.

Prat.

“What do you want anyway?”  
There was a mutter of ‘rude’ before the older man got back to the point, “I’m throwing a party tonight, dear one, and you’re coming”  
Harry rolled his eyes, “Am I really now?”  
“Yes Harold, you are. So get your cute little bum out of bed and get over here already.”  
“Fine but I’m staying over” he didn’t want to drive back home late and probably drunk, he’d just gotten his driver’s licence, he’d like to keep it.  
“Of course you are” Nick agreed easily, “now get over here”  
Harry grinned and went to find his mum and beg her to let him use her car.

.  
.  
.

It was nearly ten by the time Harry got back home on Sunday, and he wasn’t even close to recovered from his hangover. He’d forgotten how lethal Nick’s drinks were.

The first thing he did was pass out on his bed. The second was being woken up by insistent sound of his alarm clock in the morning.

He could barely believe it was Monday already. He didn’t like Mondays, but then again he doubted any seventeen year old did.

School passed by more slowly than usual. He was actually ready to fall down to his knees in gratitude when the bell finally went at the end of the day.

He pushed his way through the crowd, students spilling out of the door like ants out of their nest. Twisting around, he reached for the Ipod in his bag and that’s when he heard the sharp, leery whistle. He looked up reflexively, before turning back to his bag, and then he needed a second glance, because standing a few feet away was Louis, and he wasn’t alone.

Louis had a blonde girl wrapped around him almost obscenely, as he tried, or so it seemed, to swallow the girl’s face.

Riveted, he watched, and he was aware he wasn’t the only one doing so, as the two embraced each other, to put it lightly, Louis’ hands running all over the faceless girl, touching places that were entirely too inappropriate for a place such as the school parking lot.

Harry licked his suddenly dry lips and forced himself to turn away. The first step was the hardest, after that he was practically running.

.  
.  
.

The next few weeks were much of the same.

It had been hard to avoid Louis before, and now it was just about impossible. It seemed like everywhere he went, Louis was there, always with a different girl on his arm; kissing (though Harry thought that was just a nice word for the positively indecent, gross way Louis would behave with those girls) and touching and hugging.

Harry lost count of how many times he saw Louis with a girl on his lap, draped all over him, lost count of how many times he turned away or walked right back out of the cafeteria after another one of the displays.

He told himself he was lucky, he wouldn’t be used like those girls (strangely enough there were no boys in the mix) only to be discarded the next day.

He was better off.

.  
.  
.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, here's the second part. I think I might be adding more parts than the 3 i first planned on, but tell me if you think it's dragging on too much.

“Why are you moping?”

Startled, Harry looked up at Nick’s unamused face. He’d come over to spend the weekend, which he was prone to do whenever he got tired of his dorm mates.

“I’m not moping” he muttered, stirring his tea with no particular amount of enthusiasm.  
“Yes you are” Nick took a sip of his coffee, “it’s quite pathetic really”.  
Harry sent him a half hearted glare.  
“If this is because of Tomlinson –   
“It’s not”  
“Then you’re a much bigger idiot than I thought” he continued, unbothered by the interruption.  
Harry huffed but didn’t answer.  
“Harold” Nick started, annoyance showing clearly on his face, “if you wanted to go out with him, why the fuck didn’t you say yes when he asked?”  
“I don’t want to go out with him” he protested rather weakly.  
“So you keep saying” Nick sneered, “yet all you’ve done all day is whine about how I ‘should’ve seen the way he was groping that girl in front of everyone!’”  
“He was” he insisted, “he’s such a manwhore, I’m glad I said no”

Nick looked at him entirely unconvinced, “right, well stop moping then”  
“I’m not moping” he muttered quietly, but tried to be more cheerful for the rest of the day anyway.

.  
.  
.

Mondays, he discovered, were bad days for him. He had three lessons with Louis in total, and it seemed like the boy’s goal was to shove his dozens of flings in Harry’s face

He had caught Louis’ gaze that day when he’d walked into English class. He was sat back on his seat, one arm slung over the back of his chair. There was a girl seating on top of his desk, and Harry could see Louis’ hand on her bare thigh, thumb moving sideways on her skin. Harry could barely take his eyes off it, standing frozen by the door, and then he caught Louis staring back at him, a smirk on his lips, wearing a self-satisfied look that screamed his past words back at Harry.

I can get whatever I want, is what the look said.

Harry pursed his mouth, but straightened his shoulders, rolling his eyes at Louis as he walked past him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Louis’ head turning to watch him and felt a thrill of triumph running down his spine. He shook the unexpected feeling away, before sitting down at his seat, pointedly keeping his eyes downwards, though he could still feel Louis’s eyes on him throughout the lesson.

Towards the end, he admitted defeat, giving into his curiosity: Louis was still looking at him, gaze fixed on Harry even though the girl (Kirsty, she was in art with Harry, and he’d always thought she was nice, but not anymore) was hanging off his arm, begging for his attention.

Harry felt his stomach curl with odd pleasure, felt the surprising warmth high in his cheeks, and he looked down shyly, before looking back up. Louis was watching him, smirk replaced by a soft smile.

Without his permission, his lips loosened up, falling and then rising into an almost smile that immediately had Louis’ expression brightening.

The bell went, breaking them out of their watching, and Harry’s expression fell as he saw Kirsty jump up and then settle down on Louis’ lap.

He was an idiot, he told himself, walking out of the classroom without a look back, an absolute idiot.

.  
.  
.

He walked to gym later that day with the usual amount of enthusiasm, which was none at all.

They had been playing football for the past two weeks which made Harry dread the lesson even more than usual. Thankfully, today was a rainy day which meant the group of twenty or so people were confined to the covered gym.

His nose wrinkled as it always did when he entered the changing room, the air heavy and almost solid with the smell of worn socks, sweat and body spray.

He found an empty corner, throwing his bag on the low wooden bench and taking his P.E kit out, changing out of his jumper and jeans before pulling the sweatpants on.

“You’re that guy that said no to Louis Tomlinson, aren’t you?” a voice behind him interrupted, and he turned around to look at the boy. He was a bit chubby and really quite pretty, with a mess of red hair on top of his head, and the clearest blue eyes he’d ever seen.  
“That was brilliant mate. Mental, but brilliant”  
“Oh –   
“Ed Sheeran” the boy stuck out a hand, and Harry shook it, muttering his own name back, to which Ed responded with a wave “I know that mate”.

They sat down quietly, opposite each other, both of them working on putting on their trainers.  
“Why mental?” Harry asked when he couldn’t hold in his curiosity.  
“Umm? Oh” he looked up, “well I mean, one, it was Louis Tomlinson asking you out, and two, /he was asking you out/.”  
Harry looked at him confusedly, “so?”

Ed chuckled before realising Harry was serious, “are you serious? When have you ever seen Louis Tomlinson asking anyone out?”  
Harry arched an eyebrow at him, “and the dozens of different skanks he’s got on his arm everyday are not people he’s asked out?”

He saw Ed’s eyebrows rising in what looked like both surprise and amusement.  
“Definitely not” he kept going before Harry could protest, “those skanks” he threw him another amused look “are just girls that go to him knowing full well that all he wants with them is an easy shag”  
“Not like he says no” Harry mumbled to his shoelaces.  
“Why would he? ‘S not like he has a girlfriend…or boyfriend” he amended with another look at Harry.  
“He’ll never have one either if that’s how he asks people out”  
“What do you mean? How did he ask you out?” Ed frowned.  
“He didn’t” Harry played with his bracelets, “he just told me he’d pick me up at seven and ‘to look pretty’” his mouth twisted in remembrance.   
Ed laughed, “oh come on Harry, give the guy a break. It’s not like he’s got a lot of experience at it is it? C’mon” Ed said when they were both ready, “apparently we’re playing tennis, we can pair up” he threw Harry a look over his shoulder, suddenly looking unsure, “…if you don’t mind?” he tagged the question at the end, and Harry shook his head, following him out, mind filled with confused thoughts.

.  
.  
.

At the end of the lesson, he left the gym quickly, happy to be back in his clothes and away from his P.E group. There were a few of them that were in the football team, and they had all found time to glare at him at least a couple of times each, and maybe it was his imagination, but he thought one of them – Ashton Thomas – had been aiming the ball at his face a bit more than he was supposed to.

“Harry!” the call of his name broke him out of his thoughts, and had him stopping momentarily, giving the nameless person enough time to reach and turn him around by the shoulders.  
“Harry” it was Liam and he sounded breathless, as if he’d been running, “can I talk to you for a minute?”  
Harry shrugged; the hands on his shoulders didn’t give him much of an option.  
“I wanted to ask you… would you please ask Louis out?”

Harry barely had the presence of mind to note Liam’s sheepish tone; too busy gaping at him. He was sure his jaw was hanging open.

“What?” he choked out.  
“He really likes you Harry”  
“He doesn’t know me” he argued back, finally getting over his shock.  
“That’s why you should go out! So you can get to know each other”  
Harry looked at him, “if you think I’m going to ask that egocentric ass out anywhere – “  
“Please Harry? Lou’s been practically pining for you for months now” Liam insisted.  
“Yeah, I can see that’s what he’s been doing” Harry raised an suggestive eyebrow at the lad, who looked uncomfortable at the mention of his friend’s 101 hook ups.  
“I know it looks bad” Liam grimaced, “but he’s just, you said no to him – “  
“And he thought the best way to convince me, was to snog a dozen different girls in front of me?”  
“Yes. No, wait, no.”

Harry looked at him expectantly, “make up your mind Liam”  
“It’s not that” Liam hurried to explain, “it’s just, he thinks he hasn’t got a chance with you now –   
“He doesn’t”  
“ – so he’s determined to prove you wrong, you know, the whole he can get whatever, whoever he wants thing. But” he added on quickly, “he doesn’t really want those girls, he wants you.”  
Harry stared at him grimly, “I’ll be the one showing him wrong then”

Liam’s hold on him had loosened throughout the conversation, so he easily shrugged it off, and walked away, towards his next class.

He was quite a bit late, but Ms Lowood wouldn’t mind. She liked him too much.

For the rest of the day, he tried not to think of another person who could possibly like him a little bit too.

.  
.  
.

He told himself he was being silly, but he couldn’t help but see it.

At science the next day he noticed the way Louis would look at him. How he would touch the girl sitting next to him, her arm and back, or lean in to whisper something in her ear that would make her erupt into squeal-y giggles, and then he’d look at Harry afterwards, as if checking Harry was seeing it.

Every time he saw Louis with a girl that day, he couldn’t help but notice the look Louis would throw him over his shoulder.

However the weirdest part of it all was his own reaction to the whole thing; he didn’t exactly enjoy seeing Louis with another girl, that much he could admit, at least to himself, but then he started noticing the looks Louis would send him, and yes, it still bothered him, but not as much as it had before.

Definitely not as much as before.

.  
.  
.

It happened again later that day in English. 

Louis was sat next to the same girl from the day before, hand in her blonde hair, but whilst he could see the girl looking up at Louis, devotion written all over her face, he could also see that Louis’ attention wasn’t on her, his eyes were focused on something else, on Harry, who realised with a blush that Louis was looking at his lips, which were closed around the end of his pen, as he chewed on the plastic lid.

He let go of the pen, feeling self-conscious, and couldn’t help but feel disappointed, once Louis’ attention was back on Kirsty.

Harry wondered what could possibly be so interesting about the stuff she was babbling on about. He looked away, muscles clenched as Louis leaned in, touching his lips against Kirsty’s ear in a whisper that made her glow red.

He focused back on the teacher, trying to understand what she was saying. He could see the woman’s lips, but it was like she was muted, because Harry couldn’t hear a word, thoughts too loud inside his head.

His eyes flickered around the room, vaguely noticing a couple of girls in the front, whispering harshly to each other, sending dark looks over at where Kirsty was seating, and then, of course, his gaze was back on Louis, who was already looking at him, eyes once again fixed on his mouth. With a start he realised he was chewing on the end of his pen again.

He stopped for a second, head tilting to the side, considering.

Slowly, he pulled the pen out of his mouth, and pressed his lips together, running his tongue over the bottom one quickly, watching as Louis’ eyes followed the movement.

Abashed but really quite pleased, he looked down, before looking back up at Louis from under his eyelashes, teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he saw Louis’ hand dropping away from Kirsty’s shoulder, where it had been resting.

Next to Louis, Kirsty finally stopped talking, realising that Louis’ attention wasn’t on her anymore.

For the first time, Harry’s lips pulled up into a shy but smug smile, he’d never known how someone’s gaze on him could affect him. He felt aware of each one of his limbs, heart galloping in his chest.

At the end of the lesson he packed his stuff slowly, pretending to be engrossed in the activity, when really he was listening intensely for Louis conversation with Kirsty. He only caught the end of it.  
“Go ahead babe, I’ll catch up with you later”

The girl walked away with a disappointed pout on her face, and Harry tucked his chin into his collarbones to hide his smile.

He wasn’t surprised to see Louis looming over him when he looked up, hands resting on his desk as he leaned down so they were face to face.  
“Go out with me Harry” he said, earnestness showing in his blue eyes, and Harry had to bite his lip to stop the ‘yes’ from coming out, ignoring the fluttering in his stomach when he saw Louis’ gaze dropping to his mouth.

Finding it hard being so close to Louis; he stood up, throwing his bag across his shoulder.  
“Why should I go out with you?  
He started towards the door, Louis hurriedly following after him, “just. I really want – Harry!” he jumped in front of Harry, blocking his way.  
“Just, please?” he flushed, choking out the word please. Harry guessed that had been painful for him to say.

Harry looked at him suspiciously, “why do you want to go out with me so much?” he watched slightly amused as Louis’ face went an even deeper shade of red.  
“I just – “ Louis huffed, looking around nervously for a few more seconds, before Harry took pity on him.  
“Louis” he cut Louis’ spluttered stuttering off, and Louis finally shut up, sighing out in relief.

They looked at each other for a bit, before –   
“Will you go out with me?”  
Harry blinked, astonished at the question, before his lips stretched out, and he found himself smiling brightly at Louis, who in turn seemed taken aback by the sight.  
“You’re smiling” he pointed out unnecessarily and Harry nodded, though he tried to compose his facial features.

He looked down at him in-turned feet, “yeah, okay”

A hand on his chin had him looking back up at Louis, “you will?” he sounded thunderstruck, and Harry secretly admitted he liked having that effect on him.

Harry nodded, watching as Louis’ smile grew into a beam he quickly tried to diminish.

He saw Louis lean in, saw his intention written on his face, so he pulled away quickly, lips pursed and arms crossed adamantly, “you haven’t taken me on that date yet” he complained.

For a second there was irritation in Louis’ eyes, but then he was back to smiling, “alright, alright. Tonight then?” he agreed easily.

Harry thought about it, “you wanna take me out on a Tuesday night?”  
“What’s wrong with Tuesday?”  
“What happened to going out on Fridays?”

Louis frowned, “you didn’t want to go out with me on Friday night when I asked”

Harry looked at him as if he was stupid, “the day had nothing to do with it”  
Louis paused, seeming conflicted, and Harry was already regretting saying yes, butterflies in his stomach be damned.   
“If you don’t want to do this – “  
“No!” Louis cut him off quickly, “I do, I was just thinking. Friday’s fine”  
Harry looked at him incredulously.  
“It is” Louis insisted, “I’ll pick you up at eight yeah?”

Harry knew he could say no. Say no right now and forget the whole thing, but he looked at Louis’ bright smiling face and couldn’t bring himself to do it.  
“Okay” he agreed, and that was that.

.  
.  
.

But that wasn’t that exactly. Louis called him again that night, so he scrambled away from his seat at the kitchen counter where he’d been working on dinner, and went to answer his phone.

He took a deep breath before sliding his finger on the green button.  
“Hello?”  
“Hey Curly!” Louis sounded just as loud and obnoxious as ever.  
Harry shook his head, “what is it Louis?”  
“Rude” Louis tutted and Harry was enveloped in a case of déjà vu.   
“Sorry” he apologised reluctantly.  
“I’ll forgive you this once. So what are you doing?”  
“Dinner” he walked back to the kitchen.  
“Dinner?” Louis sounded delightful for some reason, “what a good little boy!”  
Harry rolled his eyes, “funny” he drawled.  
“So I’ve been told” he laughed.  
“Was there a reason you called me? You know, besides for making fun of me?” he was annoyed already, he wondered how he was going to last a whole date with Louis.  
“But it’s so good, making fun of you, you get all hot and bothered” his voice lowered suggestively, and Harry felt his face warming up.  
He swallowed, “I do not!”  
“You do! You get all angry and annoyed and red in the face” Louis teased.  
Harry looked at his reflection on the dark kitchen window, cursing the red tint in his cheeks, that confirmed Louis was right.

He wasn’t an easy blusher. Usually.

“I bet you’re blushing now” Louis continued, voice low in his ear, and Harry felt his stomach dip nervously, “I’m not!”  
Louis laughed again.  
“Louis!” Harry growled, beyond annoyed at that point.  
“Alright, alright, no need to get pissy. I just wanted to check in on you”

Harry ignored how that made him feel, focusing on the irritation bottled up inside him.  
“Well I’m fine, are you fine?”  
“Yeah, but – “  
“Great then, bye.”  
He ended the call before Louis could say anything else.

Bringing his hand up to his chest, he felt the quick thudding of his heart, wondering how a boy like Louis could make him feel like this.

.  
.  
.

He’d barely stepped into school the next day when there was a sudden presence by his side, and a cheerful and easily recognisable voice saying “Good morning Curly”

Harry threw him a look, wondering how someone could be this happy this early in the morning.  
“Morning” he mumbled with a considerable less amount of enthusiasm.

Louis grinned at him, throwing an arm over his shoulder even though Harry was at least half a head taller than him.  
“How are you Curly? I’m ridiculously tired” he didn’t look it, “pretty sure there’s no muscle in my body that doesn’t hurt right now”  
Harry looked at him confused, “how come?” he shrugged Louis’ arm off his shoulder, but all it did was make Louis slide his arm down until it was around his waist instead.

Harry wished for it back on his shoulder. Or anywhere that made him feel less hot… and cold.

“I had practice yesterday” he explained, but when Harry only looked at him puzzled, he laughed amused, “you do know I’m in the football team right? It’s kinda why I wear this jacket. I’m the captain?” he motioned to the red and white letterman jacket he was (always) wearing.

Harry eyed it, “do you ever even take that thing off?” he wondered out loud, it had always been something he wondered about Louis…and the rest of his team.  
“Of course! Can’t exactly go to all those high class parties, wearing this can I?”  
“You go to high class parties?” Harry asked finding it hard to believe.  
“Oh yeah” he said with an air of a person who’s suffered greatly, “you have no idea of all the events my parents drag me off to. Suits and ties Harry, the horror!”

Harry smiled. That made sense, everyone knew that Louis, and therefore his parents, were, simply put, loaded.  
“Hey lads” Louis greeted.  
Harry looked up, surprised to find himself in front of a bunch of Louis’ friends, all of them chatting animatedly, all of them wearing that stupid red jacket.  
“Say hello to my new boy”  
Harry glared at him immediately, elbowing him hard on the ribs.  
“Ouch! I mean,” he amended quickly, seeing Harry’s look, “my new, uh, friend? My new friend.”

Harry was pleased to see the snickers coming from Louis’ amused friends, and the blush high on Louis’ cheekbones that betrayed him.  
“Whatever” he snapped to their further amusement, “just say hello!”

There was a chorus of ‘hellos’. Harry caught Liam’s eyes, though he averted his gaze quickly, seeing the knowing smile on the boy’s lips. His eyes fell on Zayn next, completely tuning out the rest of the boy’s conversation. The dark haired boy was leaning against the wall, eyes heavy with sleep, like a normal person should be at this hour, Harry reckoned.

“So Lou”  
Harry tuned back in at the sound of Louis’ name, focusing on the boy who’d just called him.  
“I totally get it now” the boy, Jake Anderson, if Harry wasn’t mistaken, said.  
“Get what?” Louis asked curiously.  
“Why you’ve been so determined about this one” Jake gave Harry a once over, and Harry blinked, surprised at the sudden attention.  
“Say” Jake grinned, “if you ever get tired of Louis’ ugly face, you could call – “  
“Alright. That’s enough, everybody’s said hello. Time to go!”

He started walking them away, leaving his laughing friends behind. Harry let himself be dragged off, watching Louis’ annoyed face in amusement.

“Don’t know who he was calling ugly” Louis muttered, and Harry couldn’t hold in his snicker.  
“So what do you have now?” Louis changed the subject, arm back around Harry’s shoulder.  
“History…you?”  
“Performing Arts”  
“Oh” Harry didn’t know he took that, but it kind of made sense,   
“See you later then”  
“What? Don’t be silly” Louis’ hand gripped his shoulder, stopping him, “I’ll walk you there”

Harry swallowed with some difficulty. Performing Arts was in the other side of the school.

They walked in silence for a few seconds before Louis burst out, “he’s not even gay!”  
Harry forced the smile off his face, “isn’t he?”  
“No” Louis caught sight of Harry’s raised eyebrow, “okay, he might be a bit bi” he confessed with a defeated sigh.  
“Just a bit?”  
“It doesn’t matter anyway” he huffed, “you’re not even his type”

 

Frowning, Harry stopped in his tracks, and Louis stumbled, caught off guard.  
“Well, what kind of type am I?” he crossed his arms.  
“What? Oh” he smiled nervously, “the cute type you know? With the big eyes and the dimples” his smile grew into a teasing one, “you have such adorable cheeks, I could just pinch them!” he finished grinning.  
Harry stared horrified, “I’m not cute!”  
Louis sniggered, “you kind of are Curly”

Harry took a deep breath, nostrils flaring and turned on his heel, walking away quickly.

“Aw, shit, c’mon Curly, that was a compliment!” Louis’ voice called out behind him, but Harry kept waking.

.  
.  
.

Twenty five minutes into the lesson and Harry was calmer. He was also bored.

He kept watching the bright white skies outside. It was raining. Though April was approaching fast, Harry was yet to see a sunny day.

Chewing at the end of his pencil, he took a look at the people sitting in front of him.

Girl number one and number two were at it again, and judging by the looks they kept sending him over their shoulders, Harry had the slight suspicion they were talking about him. He was just glad they’d gotten better at whispering since the last time.

He wondered what they were supposed to be doing in this lesson.

Feeling someone tap on his shoulder, he turned around. There were two people sitting behind him, which was odd, he was sure those seats had been empty on previous lessons.

He caught sight of Danny, easily recognisable in his red jacket, and a pretty girl sitting next to him with long black hair and gray eyes. She made him think of Nick. She was exactly his type.  
“Hey Harry” Danny greeted him, smiling easily, as if this was something he did everyday.  
“Hi” he greeted back, still baffled, but happy that his mouth seemed to work without the consent of his mind.

But then again, maybe that wasn’t such a good thing.

“This is Sara” Danny motioned, and Sara smiled at him.  
“Hi”  
“I’m Harry” he nodded and her smile became a smug one.  
“Oh, I know”

Blinking he focused back on Danny who was speaking.  
“So you finally agreed to go out with Louis huh?” before Harry could say yes, Danny continued, “I’m glad you did mate. I think none of us could take much more of his whining.

Harry frowned in confusion, “why was he whining?”  
Danny and Sara laughed exchanging glances, “are you kidding? He wouldn’t stop complaining about how you wouldn’t go out with him, and that his life would be ‘forever miserable’. His words”

Harry gaped at them, “seriously?”  
“Oh yeah” Sarah answered, “he’s a bit overdramatic. But it’s all part of his charm” she added quickly at the less than subtle hit to the side she received from Danny.  
“Right” he turned back around seeing both girl number one and two staring at him.

They quickly turned away when they realised they’d been caught, heads bent close together as they viciously whispered to each other. Not for the first time, Harry wondered what he’d gotten himself into.

He still wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing.

.  
.  
.

By the time he left history, his argument with Louis had completely left his mind. That was until he saw Louis, standing outside his classroom, very obviously waiting for him.

Immediately reminded of the word ‘cute’. He scowled.  
“I’m sorry” Louis apologised quickly; springing away from the wall he’d been leaning against and coming towards Harry.  
“Being cute is a good thing you know” he threw his arm over Harry’s shoulder and started leading them away, even as Harry glared at him. 

He tried, for one last time, to shrug the arm off, but Louis only held him tighter. Harry didn’t like it, having Louis’ arm around his shoulder like this, it made him feel small, like someone in need of protection.

Why couldn’t Louis be like normal people and just hold his hand?

He pushed that thought away, slightly panicked. Jesus Christ, he was not going to walk around with Louis holding hands. Could he get more pathetic?

“You have dimples Harry. Dimples” Louis continued, “plus” he added matter-of-factly, “you’re pouting”

Harry stopped glaring at him to privately admit defeat. He had a point, he was pouting.  
“Fine” he sighed out, “but I swear, if you ever pinch my cheeks, I’ll never answer any of your calls again”  
Louis looked at him scandalised, “you drive a hard bargain Curly,” Louis stared at him, “but it’s a deal. Can’t have you running away and into Anderson’s arms can I? That traitor” Louis grinned.

Unexpectedly, Harry barked out a laugh, hand immediately coming up to cover it, embarrassed.

Gently Louis pulled Harry’s hand away. At the sight of Louis beaming, Harry couldn’t help but keep on smiling.

.  
.  
.

Lunch was an interesting experience. He’d been quite literally dragged towards the hall to Louis’ usual table with his friends.

The popular table. How painfully cliché. 

Louis kept his arm around him for the whole forty-five minutes that was their lunch, and Harry had fidgeted under it, not because of the knowing looks and sly smiles that were sent his way, but because of how it made him feel; hands clammy and cheeks warm.

Louis walked him to and from the rest of his classes that day, ignoring Niall’s playful jabs of ‘whipped’.

He felt just a little dazed when he arrived home.

Louis had driven him home, insisting even though Harry had said he didn’t need a ride.

Louis could be just as stubborn as Harry sometimes. Or persistent.

Harry wasn’t sure he totally hated it.

.  
.  
.

Thursday morning brought on a dilemma.

It must have been the first time in history where Harry didn’t just pick up the first thing he saw and put it on, instead he changed shirts three times, all the while cursing himself for doing so, (“what the fuck am I doing?”) and stared at his blue jeans in a way that said, ‘you’ll have to do’.

Like on most mornings, his mum left early. She was a secretary to a very demanding boss, and was usually at work way before Harry was even up.

He slid down the stairs banister, something he did every morning, or at least when his mum wasn’t around to see and scold him for it.

There was a knock at the door halfway through Harry’s self made breakfast of pancakes (which were nearly drowning in syrup).

He walked away from the sweet breakfast reluctantly, still in the process of licking his fingers clean when he opened the door, fingers promptly escaping his mouth as it hung open.

He stared at Louis (of course it was Louis) in surprise.  
“What are you doing here?” he blurted out, extremely off put that he hadn’t had time to tidy up his hair and put on some deodorant before seeing Louis.

Louis smiled, white teeth showing “one would think you’re not happy to see me Curly”  
“Uh”  
Louis grinned, just as cheerful this morning as he’d been in the one before, and leaned in to hug Harry, arms tight around his middle, and face shoved into his neck.

Harry stopped breathing for a second feeling his stomach dipping, though it felt more like radical somersaults. Wasn’t his heart supposed to skip? Because it wasn’t skipping, it was launching itself into an olympic run.

Harry felt his face burn at the thought that maybe Louis could feel it.

Louis took a deep breath, and unconsciously Harry imitated it, sending his grateful lungs a new bout of oxygen.  
“You smell good” Louis told him, and Harry’s shoulders slumped.

Thank god for that.

“You ready to go?” He asked, before catching sight of Harry’s red face.  
“Curly are you blushing?” he sounded entirely too happy about it, “you are!” he answered his own question gleefully, “I told you, you’re adorable”

Immediately Harry’s face went from pink and glaze-eyed, to pink and glaring.

He stomped his way back into the kitchen, thinking he should never have abandoned his pancakes.

Unable (or so it seemed) to catch a hint, Louis followed after him, undaunted.  
“Blushing just because of a hug. That’s cute” he teased, leaning against the back of Harry’s chair, and reaching out to tug on a stray strand of his hair.

Ignoring him, Harry leaned away from Louis’ grabby hands, but the boy was just as persistent, and there wasn’t much Harry could do unless he wanted to end up with his face full of syrup.

He ate the rest quickly, thinking he should commend his mum on how well she’d raised him, because half way though his first bite he felt guilty about not offering Louis anything, so they ended up sharing the rest of his breakfast.  
“This is really good Curly”

Harry looked down abashed, “thanks”.  
Louis stopped chewing for a second and looked at him, “you made these?”  
Harry nodded shyly.  
“Well they’re really good Haz” Louis smiled gently at him.  
Harry beamed.

.  
.  
.

His first lesson of the day was gym, so with only a few minutes to spare, Louis walked him there hurriedly, leaning up to kiss the side of his head, before leaving Harry with a cheeky wink.

Harry blinked after him, before realising he should probably be inside changing.

He found himself back in his corner, though not before being greeted by Louis’ lot. He smiled awkwardly at them, though the smile became a bit more genuine once he saw Danny in their midst.

“Heya Harry”  
Harry looked up. It was Ed, and he was giving him that same knowing smile Liam had been throwing his way for the past day.  
He sighed defeated, “you know”

At that, Ed grinned, “Mate, I’m pretty sure the whole school knows” he threw him a curious look, “so what happened exactly? Last time I talked to you, you seemed pretty against the idea”

Harry sat down on the bench, leaning his back against the wall and closing his eyes.

Grimacing, he cracked his eyes open to look at Ed, who was looking at him in amusement, “he wore me out” Harry groaned out finally.

Ed snorted out a laugh, “that sounds wrong on so many levels”.  
Harry spluttered, red-faced, “that’s, not what I – Ugh! That’s not what I meant! He’s just really persistent!”  
“Sure yeah” but he was grinning so Harry knew he was just teasing.  
He rolled his eyes, “whatever” he pulled his shirt off with brusque movements, ignoring Ed’s amused expression.

They walked outside together when they were ready, seeing their group being divided into teams.

Harry sighed and joined them.

.  
.  
.

“Fuck football man” Ed groaned after they’d all had a quick shower at the end of the lesson.

Harry plopped himself down on the bench again, grimacing at the pain in his leg, “my feelings exactly” he agreed.

Unfortunately for the two exhausted boys, the bell went only seconds later.

They both groaned out loud, getting back up and picking up their stuff sluggishly, walking out together.

Ed bid him a quick goodbye once he spotted Louis waiting outside (Harry had no idea how he managed to get to all of Harry’s classes seconds after the bell rang, probably even before).  
“Who’s that?” Louis asked as they watched the red-haired boy walking away.  
“That’s Ed”

They were interrupted by Liam, as he rushed towards the both of them, followed by Niall and Danny.  
“Harry! Are you alright?” Liam asked, concern lacing his tone.  
Though surprised, Harry nodded, even though it wasn’t completely true.  
“Yeah man, that was one hell of a hit”  
“What? What happened?” Louis asked, looking from Harry to Liam to Danny.  
“Someone kicked Harry in the chin when we were playing football”  
Louis frowned.  
“I’m not very good at football” Harry explained with a shrug.  
Niall laughed, “mate, you’re terrible”

Liam and Danny laughed, though at least Liam tried to hide it behind an unconvincing cough.

Harry huffed.  
“Aw, poor Curly” Louis commiserated, throwing his arm around Harry’s shoulder as they walked away from the other three with a quick ‘see you later’.

Harry caught the look of surprise on Louis’ face when Harry actually leaned against him this time, but Harry didn’t care. He was tired, and his knees and elbows were stinging, and his bum was sore from the amount of times he’d fallen on it.  
“Where to now Haz?” Louis asked him softly, skilfully leading them in between the other students and ignoring the many calls of his name.

Harry smiled smugly, catching the sight of a blond girl, who looked disappointed when Louis blanked her as they passed. He recognised her as the girl Louis had been snogging outside school a week ago, and he had to turn his face sideways into Louis’ shoulder to hide the pleased smile on his face.  
“You okay?” Louis asked curiously, and Harry nodded, nose still tucked into Louis’ shoulder. Louis’ jacket, though he wore it every day, smelled pretty good.  
“Just tired” he mumbled.  
“Not one for running?”  
Harry shook his head, he didn’t mind running or any kind of exercising. He actually quite enjoyed it, going to the gym at least twice a week. Nick had gotten him into the habit after he’d spent that first summer after they met at Nick’s parents’ house.

He just wasn’t very fond of running and showing skill with a football that a bunch of other people were after. He just couldn’t wrap his head around all the multitasking.   
“Not one for playing football” he finally answered.  
Louis laughed, “I can’t believe you just said that to me”  
Harry shrugged, “Yeah, well”  
“You hurt me Curly” Louis said, bringing a hand up to cover his chest over the place where his heart was.

Harry smiled.  
“I can see you enjoy the thought of my pain” Louis rolled his eyes, “so, where to?”  
Still smiling Harry answered, “media”  
“Alrighty then”

.  
.  
.

Ms Brown was at it again.

“That’s coming along nicely Harry” she complimented him, looking at his painting over his shoulder.

Their theme this term was combining an inanimate object with a living thing. Harry’s was a painting from a picture he’d taken of a violin and a red rose. Not the most creative, but Harry wasn’t bothered, he just liked painting pretty things, which was much better than last term when Ms Brown had then all drawing skulls over and over again.

Harry thanked her keeping his eyes on his painting. 

She walked around the other students, though she always came back to him. Harry shook his head, torn between amusement and the need to grit his teeth.

She stopped him at the end of the lesson as she always did, which meant he was usually late for his next class or to lunch, which happened every Thursday.

Harry took it back. There was nothing lucky about Thursdays.

“So how’s everything Harry?” she smiled winningly at him, and he mentally sighed, preparing himself to the awkward conversation.

In a few minutes the subject had moved from Harry’s other subjects and about what he was thinking of doing after he left school (which he supposed were normal things for a teacher to ask about) to his out of school hobbies, and to a not very subtle probing of whether or not he had a girlfriend. 

Harry didn’t understand how that had happened.

There was a knock at the door, as Harry floundered around for an answer for that and he shut up, relieved. 

He nearly jumped up and down when he saw it was Louis.  
“Hey Harry, you ready?” he asked, frowning in confusion at the empty classroom.  
“Ah, yes, yes. You should get going Harry. Don’t want to take up all of your lunch huh?” she laughed.

Harry could’ve kissed Louis for that, he really could.

“Right” he moved towards Louis quickly, eager to escape.  
“Bye miss”  
“Bye bye” she called after him.

“Y’alrigh Curly?” Louis’ arm went back to it’s place around his shoulder, “not in trouble are you?”  
“No” Harry shuddered, “she just likes to talk” a lot.  
“Ah! Louis nodded, amused, “one of those teachers huh?”

He had no idea.

“C’mon then, we’ve missed ten minutes of lunch already”  
Harry nodded and let himself be guided towards the cafeteria.

.  
.  
.

“Hi Gemma”  
“Little brother! What do I owe the honour?”  
Harry rolled his eyes and decided to ignore his sister’s sassy attitude.  
“How are things Gem?” he asked instead.

He’d finally gotten around to calling her. The time was as good as any, he thought.  
“Great! Guess what? Ben finally asked me out!”  
“What?” he asked confused. Ben was some guy Gemma had fancied for ages now, but until the last time they talked the guy didn’t sound exactly interested.  
“I have a date!” Gemma cheered, in that squealing girly voice that suddenly made Harry proud for keeping his head when Louis had asked him out.  
“That’s funny.. so have I” he mused.  
“Wait, what?”  
“Don’t sound so surprised” he felt pretty offended now, “I go on dates"  
“No you really don’t. What you do is, you go out with Nick and then you end up hooking up with someone. That’s not dating Harry”

Harry couldn’t argue with that, “yeah well, I’m going on an actual date now” he was somewhat proud of being able to say that.  
“Who with?” she asked curiously.  
“Uh, Louis Tomlinson?”  
He pushed the phone away from his ears immediately, but he still could hear the squeals of “Oh my god, oh my god!”  
“I can’t believe it! Who asked who out?”

His silence must’ve given away what he thought of that question.  
“Right. Stupid question” she agreed, “I can’t believe he asked you out!”  
“You know, you’re not a very flattering person” he told her, slightly annoyed.

Was it really that unbelievable that Louis had asked him out?

“What? Oh c’mon H” he could practically hear her rolling her eyes.  
“You know what they say, flattery will get you everywhere” he interrupted her, thoughtfully.  
“Is that how you got Louis Tomlinson to ask you out?” she asked dryly.  
“Hey!”  
Gemma laughed, “Alright, alright. So when is this date of yours?”  
“Tomorrow night. Yours?”  
“Mine too”  
How odd.  
Harry hesitated, “so Gem… what should I wear?”

And she was back to squealing.

.  
.  
.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go everyone, sorry it's a bit late. Hope you're not too disappointed with it.

Friday night came about too fast. Harry wished he’d let Louis take him out on Tuesday, so at least they would’ve gotten it out of the way already. All he managed to do was build up anticipation. 

It was seven o’clock and he was seriously considering calling Nick for help. He reminded himself of all the snarky, sarcastic comments he’d get from Nick if he told him about this and asked for his help, and quickly forgot the idea.

He couldn’t ask his mum either, because she herself had gone out, telling him not to wait up for her. Apparently everyone in the family had a date tonight.

He wouldn’t be able to ask for her help even if she was home, he hadn’t told her he was going out with Louis, mostly because he didn’t want to tell her if things went badly, but also because he knew she’d start smirking at him; she’d told him to say yes to Louis right from the beginning.

He glared at his reflection on the mirror, telling himself to get a grip.

He ended up in the tightest pair of black jeans he owned and a cream coloured sweater, so at least this way he wouldn’t have to carry a jacket with him.

Louis arrived before he was ready; so he quickly put on his black converse on before checking himself for his wallet, keys and phone.

The doorbell rang again. He slid down the banister, jumping off it at the end and going to open the door.

“Curly!” Louis hugged him again, and feeling more prepared for it this time, he managed to put his arms around Louis’ shoulder and hug back before Louis pulled away.

“Looking good” Louis said, looking him up and down.  
He wasn’t the only one. Louis looked even better in dark blue jeans that looked almost as tight as Harry’s and a long sleeved grey and white shirt.  
“Thanks, you too”  
Louis wiggled his eyebrows in a way that made Harry immediately regret the compliment.  
“I know” Louis said smirking.

Harry rolled his eyes. Of course.

Louis opened the door for him, and with his nose turned up Harry got in, making Louis laugh and his own lips twitch.  
“How come I never see your parents around?” Louis asked him after he started the car.  
“Oh” Harry was surprised at the question, “well mum went out tonight”  
“And your dad?”  
“What? Oh no, I just live with my mum”  
“Ah, and in the mornings?”  
“Mum goes to work pretty early, so I’m usually by myself before school”  
Louis sent him a quick look that Harry immediately understood, “don’t go getting any ideas”  
Louis laughed, “So you mean to tell me, I could be ringing the doorbell all this time, instead of hurting my knuckles on your door?”  
“Um, yeah?”  
“No consideration!” he cried out loudly.  
Harry rolled his eyes, “yes, I’m sure you suffered greatly”  
“I did, yes, my knuckles will never be the same again”  
Harry chuckled, “sorry, I thought you were tougher than that. I had no idea your hands were so delicate”   
Louis gave him a sly look, “you think I’m tough?”  
Harry groaned and ignored the question, Louis’ ego was way too big.

It wasn’t long after that when they were stopping. Harry looked around, the street was filled with cars parked on both sides.  
“Where are we?”  
“We are going to a party” Louis told him, lips stretched and teeth glowing white in the dark.

He couldn’t be serious. Harry looked out the window, catching sight of the house they were parked in front of. It was lit up and Harry could hear the muffled sound of loud music. Oh my god, he was serious.  
“You’re kidding” he refused to believe it.  
“Nope” Louis got that smug look on his face that Harry very much disliked, “they’re throwing it for me”  
“For you?” Harry parroted.  
“Yeah, as good luck for the game next Friday”  
“So it’s a party for the football team” Harry was surprised Louis wasn’t wearing that stupid red jacket then.  
Louis shrugged, “yeah, and I’m the captain of it so…”  
“You’re kidding” Harry repeated, but Louis only laughed, hopping out of the car and walking around to open Harry’s door for him.  
“C’mon Curly, party can’t start until I arrive”

Harry just stared ahead, too shocked to stop Louis from dragging him into the house.

To Harry’s utter disdain, there was loud cheering coming from the party-goers when they caught sight of Louis.

Louis grinned, throwing his arm over Harry, who had never wanted it there less.  
“I’m gonna go find Hayden, go get us some drinks yeah babe?”  
“Who’s Hayden?”  
“Person who’s throwing the party” he answered distractedly, “be back in a bit” he said before disappearing behind the masses of dancing bodies.

Harry glared darkly at the spot he’d last seen Louis, lips pursed. Fury mounting, he found himself downing a couple of suspicious drinks.

He could not believe Louis. Behaving all high and mighty, bossing him around.

No he was not going to get him a drink, thank you very much.

It was about an hour later when he found himself upstairs, looking for Louis in a hallway filled with snogging couples. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he found him, but he knew he was angry enough to do something stupid.

Hands clenched at his sides, Harry kept looking for the twat, not noticing the person walking in his direction until they’d bumped into each other.  
“Oh sorry”  
“Perrie?” Harry looked at her surprised.

Perrie and a few of her cheerleader friends had lunch with Louis and the rest of the football team, and oh my god, when had this become his life?

He looked at the girl. She was honestly a mess. Make up messy and smudged, mascara running down her face as she cried.  
“You okay?” he asked, startled out of his angry thoughts.

The girl stared at him for a couple of seconds before lunging at him, arms thrown around him as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Eyes widening, Harry patted her awkwardly on the back. He wasn’t very good at comforting people, especially not crying girls, unless they were his mum or Gemma. He was very good with them usually. 

Trying to picture the blonde girl with long brunette hair instead, he rubbed his hand up and down her back, murmuring things like ‘it’s okay’ and ‘I’m sure nothing’s so bad, don’t cry yeah?’

Once she’d calmed down a bit, he pulled back to look at her.  
“What happened Per? Are you okay?”  
She took a deep breath, lips trembling, “I saw Mark. He was, he was with someone else”

Oh. Mark was, or had been, her boyfriend. That was bad.

“Harry?” a voice interrupted them and Harry looked up.  
“Ed?”  
Ed was looking at him in confusion, whilst Harry had never been happier to see him.  
“Just a second” he asked hoping the boy would wait for him.  
“Alright” Harry said, hands cupping Perrie’s face. He waited until her eyes focused on him to continue, “you’re gonna go find a bathroom, clean yourself up okay? You’ll do your make up again until it’s all tidy, and pretty again, cause you can’t let him see you like this okay?”

She nodded, dazed, “right”  
“And then” he continued, “you’ll go downstairs and dance lots yeah? I’m sure you’re very good at it”  
Her lips pulled up into a watery smile, “I’m terrible at it actually”  
Harry blinked surprised, but smiled back at her, “no matter” he shook his head, “you’ll find your friends and have lots of fun with them cause you don’t need some guy who doesn’t appreciate you to do that yeah?”

It was true. Nobody deserved being cheated on, especially not Perrie. She was nice, she’d been nice to him whenever they’d talked on the last few days, and she was less of the typical popular, cheerleader girl than the others were.

She smiled a bit more firmly this time, “okay” she nodded, “thanks Harry”. Harry smiled at her before she left to find a bathroom like he’d told her.

Harry turned back to Ed.  
“Mate weren’t you supposed to be on a date tonight?”  
Harry laughed mirthlessly, “oh I’m on a date”  
Ed looked at him, “You’re kidding”  
Harry chuckled, nodding, “That’s what I said”  
“Well that’s shit mate” he slapped him on the shoulder, “c’mon let’s get you drunk”

.  
.  
.

A few hours later, Harry had won several games of beer pong, and some other drinking game he didn’t remember the name of, against Niall.

He was well past the tipsy stage.  
“I cannot believe you just beat Niall at that game Harry” Ed told him afterwards.   
“I can’t either!” Niall said from Harry’s other side, an affronted look on his alcohol flushed face.  
“Who knew little Harry could drink like that?” Danny said ruffling Harry’s hair.

Harry was too drunk to stop him. He was also too drunk to remember how exactly he ended up with this group of people.  
“I’m not little!” he persisted, stomping his foot down.  
“Harry’s not little” Liam agreed.  
“Thank you!” Harry decided Louis was definitely the nicest one of the bunch.  
“We should play truth or dare!” Niall cried out loudly.

There were a few cheers of agreement coming from the people around them that had heard the comment.  
“Pssh, so you can have your revenge on me for be beating you? No thanks, I’m drunk, but not that drunk”  
The others laughed agreeing that that was probably what Niall was planning.  
“Party poopers” Niall mumbled, but Harry’s attention had already been caught by something else.  
“Who’s that?” he asked.

The others looked in the direction he was looking. It was easy to spot Louis dancing, now that the crowd had moved a bit, half of them already passed out in obscure corners of the house. It was also easy to spot the brunette girl he was dancing with, hands on her hips, steadying her as she threw herself over him.

“Uh” Liam was the first to turn back around, unease radiating off him.

The others were just staring with the same amount of disbelief at the couple. Harry decided he appreciated those four a lot more right then.  
“Liam?” he prompted.  
“That’s Hayden”

Harry wasn’t expecting that, he was definitely not expecting Hayden to be a girl either. A very pretty, very interested girl.  
“Right” lips pursed into a thin line, he stared at the dancing couple.  
“Haz mate” Niall started, but Harry cut him off.  
“Don’t bother, I’m leaving”  
“Wait!” The four of them moved at once to stop him.  
“You can’t just leave. How are you gonna get home?”  
“It’s called a taxi Liam”  
“Wait then, I’m coming with you, we can share it yeah?” Ed said already pulling a jacket on.  
“I’m gonna go talk to Louis” Liam said, mouth pursed and eyebrows furrowed.

Yes, Harry decided he liked this four.

“You’ll be okay?” Danny checked.  
Harry shrugged, “I’ll probably have a hangover from hell, but yeah, fine” he reassured before leaving with Ed.  
They stumbled their way out of the house, holding on to each other.  
“How drunk are you?” he asked Ed.  
“Very,” he told him, “you?”  
“Very drunk” Harry nodded.  
From behind them there was the sound of a fight breaking out, and they looked back at it, hearing yells and the sound of glass breaking.  
“Fuck this party man” Ed said, getting into the awaiting cab.  
Harry climbed in after him, “my feelings exactly”

.  
.  
.

The first thing he was aware of in the morning, was of the pounding headache he had.

He could feel the pulsing in his forehead that indicated he should not open his eyes. Stubbornly, he unglued his eyelids, regretting it almost immediately as his eyes watered at the brightness hitting them.

With a groan, he checked his phone for the time, seeing it was already 2.14 pm, and then he caught the little number that told him how many messages he had.

He blinked a few more times, trying to clear his obviously deluded eyes, but the number was still there.

39 messages.

39

He wasn’t surprised to see that most of them were from Louis. He was however surprised to see that Liam, Niall and Danny had also sent him a few messages asking whether he’d got home alright, and how he was feeling in the morning.

Though the memory was blurry he still remembered how he’d spent most of the night with those three, as well as Ed, and he answered them with a quick ‘still alive’, smiling warmly at their concern.

He ignored the other 32 messages which consisted mainly of:  
‘Curly can we talk?’  
‘Pick up the phone’  
‘We really have to talk’  
‘Why aren’t you answering me?’  
‘I know you’re mad, just pick up the phone yeah’

And so it went.

With a groan, Harry burrowed under his blankets, determined to avoid the rest of the world for a few more hours.

.  
.  
.

His mum was staring at him.

He knew this with certainty even though he had his eyes fixed on the tv. The clattering sound of his phone as it vibrated on the wooden centre desk managed to get his eyes away from the tv, though only for a second, before he was focusing back on the screen where a person was falling down with a load of splashing into a pool. 

He was watching ‘Total Wipeout USA’. He didn’t know why.

“He’s been calling a lot” his mum started casually, but it didn’t fool Harry, “I thought he’d given up”  
Harry shrugged.  
Anne sighed, “can’t you just give the boy a chance?”  
Focus on the tv, he told himself, watching with a sick kind of pleasure as another man was punched by a huge mechanical gloved fist. He imagined Louis in his place.

“I gave him a chance”  
“Well everyone deserves a second one!”  
Harry rolled his eyes.   
“What did he do that was so bad anyway?”  
“He took me to a party and ditched me after 30 seconds” he told her.  
“I’m sure you’re exaggerating”  
“I’m really not”  
“So the boy made one mistake, but he’s obviously sorry!”  
Annoyed, Harry finally turned away from the tv, “why are you siding with him?”  
“I’m not” she said curling her legs up on the couch. She was sitting on the smaller one, the one for two people, placed opposite to the tv.  
“I just know you can be a bit difficult, and you have been quite harsh on the boy”  
Harry gaped at her, before standing up, “I’m tired of this program” he muttered, “I’m going up to my room”.

After a particularly vicious game of Angry Birds, he decided to call Nick.  
“Harold! What a pleasant surprise”  
“Hey Nick you busy?”  
“It’s Sunday. All I have to do is four or five essays, so no I’m not busy”

Harry snickered, not at all surprised with the answer. I t was a wonder how Nick hadn’t been kicked out of uni yet.

“What is it then? Spill”  
Harry heaved a sigh, “you know Louis Tomlinson?”  
At Nick’s hum of agreement he continued, “well I finally agreed to go on a date with him”  
Nick gasped, “My baby Harold is growing up. Going on dates and everything. So, when is it?”  
“It was on Friday” Harry answered, staring dejectedly at his ceiling and shaking his head at himself.  
“And you didn’t tell me about it until now?” Nick was predictably annoyed about the fact. He went on a rant about friendship and loyalty, and keeping secrets, until Harry finally decided to interrupt.  
“It didn’t go too well”

On the other side Nick paused, and Harry could imagine it perfectly, the way Nick’s mouth would be opening and closing as he searched for what to say.  
“What did he do?” he finally asked, tone suspicious.  
“Nothing!” Harry answered, “that’s kind of the problem”  
“What, did he not make a move on you or something?” Niall sniggered.  
“No! Not that. I mean, he didn’t make a move or anything, but that’s probably because I didn’t see him all night!”  
“Alright Harold, stop being cryptic and start from the beginning” Nick said impatiently, so with another great sigh Harry told him.  
“He took me to a party someone was throwing for him”  
“For him? Wow, that’s one popular guy”  
“Nick!”  
“Okay, okay. Calm down princess, wait did you say a party?”

And he had finally arrived at the root of the problem. Harry sent an upwards glance of gratitude.  
“Yes” he answered.  
“For your first date?”  
“Yes”  
“Wow, not even I’m that hopeless” Nick mused, “okay, that’s not ideal but…?”  
“Ant then he ditched me as soon as we got into the house, and I didn’t see him again until hours later when I saw him happily dancing with some girl”

There was another pause.  
“Nick?”  
“Wow, that was a bad first date”  
“First and last” Harry mumbled, playing with the hem of his t-shirt, so it twisted around his finger.  
“I have to say H, you do not have the best taste in men”  
Harry rolled his eyes, “I know that, I had a crush on you at some point, remember?”  
“Yes, it was cute. You just spiralled downwards since didn’t you?”  
Harry snorted.  
“So how was your weekend?”

He knew Nick probably had a lot more questions for him, but thankfully he let it go, not pointing out the obvious change in subject.  
“Oh it was a lot more satisfactory than yours, I can tell you that”

Harry smiled; Nick had always been good at cheering him up.

.  
.  
.

On Monday Harry was late for school. He’d had to wait for Louis – who’d rang the doorbell enough times to give Harry a headache – to finally leave, and by then he’d already missed the bus, so he had to walk all the way to school.

He took it as a bad sign.

His English teacher threw him a glare when he arrived seven minutes late, so not wanting to risk a detention he apologised and walked quietly towards his seat in the back, completely ignoring Louis who was looking at him eagerly, and sending a wane smile towards Liam, before taking his seat.

Refusing to be ignored, Louis took to throwing scrunched up balls of paper at Harry, who cursed their oblivious teacher and Louis’ persistence.

After the sixth or seventh one had hit him on the forehead, he looked up, scowling.

Louis had his head tilted to the side, a tentative smile on his face, as if he could make Harry smile back at him just by doing that.

Still glaring, Harry looked back down at the board.

Tone and mood, he copied down before receiving another ball of paper on his face.

They are both used as a way to present emotions centred around a piece of writing.

Another piece of paper. Harry fervently wished for the end of the lesson.

Though they seem similar, they are quite different.

He didn’t even flinch as another tiny piece of balled up paper hit him on the nose.

When the lesson finally came to an end, Harry stood up, wanting to get out of there. He dodged a pair of gossiping girls who didn’t seem likely to move out of the way any time soon, only to have Louis block his path a second later.

“Ok, I know you’re mad” Louis started, hands lifted both in caution and to stop Harry from leaving, ignoring the half empty room, and the people including Liam, Zayn and the two girls who were avidly staring at them.

Harry scoffed.

“I know, I know. I messed up a bit –“  
“When?” Harry interrupted, “when you took me to a party on our date or when you ditched me to go dance with some desperate bimbo?”

A gasp to his side had Harry’s attention shifting to where the two gossiping girls were, and it was only then that he recognised one of them as Hayden. The very girl Louis had been dancing with on Friday.

Harry shrugged unapologetic. If the shoe fit.

Louis squirmed, “I know. Liam talked to me. He knocked some sense into me, I promise”  
“I seriously doubt that” Harry snapped.  
“He did! But you wanted to go out on Friday, and I had already said yes to the party. I couldn’t just miss it”

Harry gaped at him; this was the worst apology he’d ever heard.

“Are you blaming this on me?”  
“No” Louis said quickly, seeing the outraged look on Harry’s face.  
“I’m not. I thought it was a good idea. We could have some fun and you could get to know the guys” Louis motioned at Liam and Zayn and they both grimaced at being included in their argument. 

Harry stared at him and wondered whether Louis really was that stupid. The thought must have shown on his face, because Louis asked defensively, “what?”

“You do know going on a date is about getting to know your date and not his friends yeah?” he asked condescendingly.  
Louis flushed, “of course!”  
“Really, are you sure?”  
“I…”  
“I hate to interrupt this” their teacher said, looking like she meant it, it was probably the most entertainment she’d had in the last month, “but I have another class to teach, so you all better clear out.”

Harry nodded, walking past Louis who was still staring at the teacher in surprise. He probably couldn’t believe he was being kicked out, Harry thought. The idiot probably thought the whole world revolved around him.

Harry grinned when he heard a girl’s voice several feet behind him.  
“I can’t believe he called me that. I’m not desperate!”  
.  
.  
.

Harry managed to avoid any more confrontations with Louis for the next few lessons.

At lunch, he found himself back at his table in the far corner of the cafeteria, though not out of sight. He noticed with some amusement that there were quite a few people looking at him, namely Louis, who wasn’t so much as looking as he was fixedly staring.

Ah, teenage drama, he sighed.

Deciding to ignore everyone, he focused on his lunch; cheese and tomatoes sandwich.

“Hey Harry!”  
Harry looked up surprised to see a chirpy blonde sitting opposite him.  
“Perrie?” he asked surprised. His surprise only grew when the girl lunched herself across the table, hugging him.

Caught off guard, it took him a second to reciprocate and hesitantly brought his arms up to hug her back.

“Thanks Harry” she murmured in his ear.  
Surprised, Harry pulled away to look at her.  
“For what?”  
“You know, for the other day” she shrugged sheepishly before breaking into a smile, “I talked to Mark today. I broke it off with him”  
Harry grinned, “Perrie that’s excellent!”  
The girl laughed pleased, “it’s good to hear that someone thinks so. All day all I’ve heard is ‘why would you break up with him? Are you crazy?” her face took on a stern expression for a second, before she smiled again.

Harry rolled his eyes, “I think they are the ones who are crazy. Mark didn’t deserve you”  
Perrie beamed, “thanks Harry. I’m glad you were there. I’d have been a mess if you weren’t.”  
Harry shrugged; glad he could help even though he wasn’t the best at comforting people.  
“Talking about that, what were you doing there? No offence but you’re not exactly one to party it up with us.”

Harry’s mood soured. Frowning, he looked Perrie’s shoulder at Louis, seeing the older boy mirroring his expression.  
“I went with Louis” he answered her after another minute of staring, “that was his idea of a date”

It was his fault really, he thought regretfully, he shouldn’t have expected so much from someone like Louis, who thought anybody should be honoured to have been asked out by him.  
“He took you to a party on a first date?” she scrunched up her face.

No, Louis had ditched him at a party on their first date, he corrected mentally, though he didn’t voice it.  
“Yes”  
“Well he can be a bit of an idiot” she said thoughtfully.

Harry let out a surprised laugh, though he nodded his head to show he agreed.  
“Sorry about that Harry, I’m sure he’ll make it up to you though”  
She hugged him again before saying her goodbyes and going back to her table with the rest of her cheerleader group and, of course, the football team.

Harry watched her go before his gaze fell on a glowering Louis.

With a suffering sigh Harry stood, deciding to spend the rest of his break somewhere else, the day wasn’t so bad, cloudy maybe, but warm, so he decided to head outside.

He hummed along to a song in his head as he walked through the empty corridor.  
“Harry” someone said just he’d pushed one of the exit doors open. Harry recognised the voice immediately.

Schooling his features into a scowl (it wasn’t too difficult) he turned around to face Louis, briefly surprised at the matching look on Louis’ face.

What did he have to be angry about?

“What do you want?”  
Louis ignored him. He seemed agitated, as if he was about to start pacing.  
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me” he burst out, “it makes sense now, all these excuses you come up with”

Huh?

Harry looked at him bemused.  
“You should’ve told me” Louis said again, “jesus, I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before”  
“What the hell are you talking about? What excuses?” Harry asked, starting to feel annoyed.  
“How you kept saying no” Louis expanded, “how you’re all annoyed that I took you to a party, Perrie… It’s all obvious now!” he ran his hand through his fringe, messing it up even more than usual.

Harry stared at him, wondering whether Louis had finally gone crazy.  
“What’s obvious?”  
“You’re not – you’re not into -!” Louis spluttered, brandishing his finger at Harry accusingly.

Harry thought over their one-sided conversation, eyes widening as he understood what Louis was saying.

Thinking it over, Harry came to a conclusion: Louis thought he was straight.

Also, Louis really was an idiot.

Harry laughed involuntarily, “mate, I’m not into girls” he told him, lips still twitching, he’d never been so amused.  
“What? What about Perrie?” Louis demanded.  
“What about Perrie? Harry shot back, delighting in Louis’ flustered behaviour.  
“You’re… you’re…”  
“I’m gay” Harry finished for him.  
Louis looked suspicious, “are you sure?”  
Harry laughed, “pretty sure”  
Louis frowned, still unconvinced, and Harry sighed wondering why he was even bothering, and ignoring the traitorous flutter in his stomach that he got as an answer.   
“Trust me on this yeah?” he said, turning towards the door, “I’m gay”  
Louis’ voice stopped him again, “why did you keep saying no to me then?”  
“Did it ever occur to you that I’m just not interested in you?” he asked annoyed, even though it wasn’t quite true. He just wanted to break Louis out of the cocky act.

He was obviously set for failure, of course.

“What? What’s there not to like?” Louis asked confused, smugness obvious in his tone.  
“That” Harry snapped, turning around to face Louis, “you’re arrogant, and big-headed, and you think that just because most people in this school are willing to bend over backwards for you, that I am too”

Louis blinked surprised, and Harry watched with some satisfaction as a blush appeared on Louis’ face. Louis grimaced and Harry wondered whether his words had actually had an impact on Louis.  
“Okay” Louis said slowly, “I guess I can be a bit big-headed, but I have good reason for it” he defended, and Harry rolled his eyes, scolding himself for thinking he could get through the idiot.  
“C’mon Curly, can’t you give me another chance?”  
“No” Harry pursed his lips, he wouldn’t let himself be swayed by a stupid nickname.  
“C’mon, please?”  
“No”  
“Curly” Louis said, stepping forward until their faces were very close.  
“Won’t you give me another chance?”

Harry shook his head, unable to look away from the pinning blue eyes.  
“Please Curly?” He reached out, pushing a stray lock of Harry’s hair out of his eyes, and Harry gave in.  
“Fine”  
“Yes!” Louis pulled away to grin at him, but Harry cut him short before he could get too far with his cheering.  
“But. With one condition” he stipulated.  
“Condition?”

Harry smiled slyly, Louis didn’t think he’d give in so easily, did he?”  
“You have to let me drive your car. For at least half an hour” he added quickly.  
If he had to go on another disastrous date, then he might at least get something out of it. Louis had a very, very fine ride.  
“What?” Louis blanched, “no way!”  
Harry shrugged, “forget it then”

He counted up to four before Louis stopped him again.  
“Wait! Ok, fine you can drive it” he said in defeat.  
Harry was honestly surprised (and impressed), he didn’t think he’d agree.  
“Really?”  
Louis grinned, “you didn’t think I’d give up this easy, did you?”

Okay, so Harry deserved that one.

Harry looked at him disconcerted, “well, uh, okay then”  
“Great” Louis grinned.

Harry wondered how their conversation had ended up here.  
.  
.  
.

 

The look on Louis’ face was one of someone in a very intense inner battle.

He was standing in front of Harry, arm stretched out towards him, but his hand was clenched tight around the keys he was supposed to be giving to Harry.

Though amused, Harry couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him, if he had a car like Louis’, he thought, taking a glance at the gleaming silver Porshe, he wouldn’t want anyone else driving it either.  
“You can change your mind you know?” he smiled, taking pity on the boy, whose eyes snapped up to meet his.  
“No” he said stubbornly, and with a sort of pained expression, he shoved the keys into Harry’s hands, and walked stiffly towards the passenger’s seat.  
“Come on then, let’s get this over with”

Begrudgingly, Harry felt impressed. Though Louis sat very straight and obviously uncomfortable, he didn’t say a word throughout the whole time he was driving, not even when the clock said it’d been closer to an hour since he’d been at it, rather than the half an hour he’d asked for.

Once the car was parked in front of Harry’s house, they both let out a sigh, Harry’s of sadness that his time with the Porshe was over, and Louis’ of obvious relief.  
“So?”  
“So what?” Harry asked, and yes, maybe he liked to be difficult. A little bit.

Louis however, seemed very aware of what he was doing.  
“Our date” he said bluntly, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven for diner. Okay?”

The ‘okay’ was only added because Louis had seen the face Harry was making at him.

Still, even after all this Harry was unsure.  
“Diner? Just the two of us?” he wanted to make sure.  
“And everybody else at the restaurant”  
Harry glared.  
“Just the two of us” Louis corrected quickly.  
Slowly, Harry nodded, “okay”

Rolling his eyes at Louis’ smug face and deciding he didn’t want to look at it anymore, he got out of the car, leaning back down on the open window to say, “don’t be late” before walking away.  
“I won’t be” Louis shouted, loud enough for Harry to hear.  
Harry smiled.

.  
.  
.

“Who was that then?”  
Harry jumped, surprised to see his mum home so early, she usually got home around six in the evening, when Harry mostly had diner ready for her.  
“Mum! What are you doing home so early?”  
His mum gave him a look as if to say, “I had a doctor’s appointment. So? Who was that?”  
Harry sighed, “that was Louis”  
“Louis Tomlinson” she clarified.  
“Yep” Harry said, walking toward the living room, schoolbag in hand.  
“And why were you driving Louis Tomlinson’s car?”  
Harry grinned to himself, knowing his mum couldn’t see it.  
“He let me” he shrugged.  
“He let you” Anne didn’t sound convinced.  
“Well, I might’ve blackmailed him into it. Same thing really”

He took his English books out, decided to get started on the essay that was due in for the next day. He was good at prioritising.  
“Oh yes, letting you and you blackmailing him sound exactly alike” she said sarcastically, “what did you even blackmail him with?” she asked casually, but Harry wasn’t fooled, he did get his curiosity from her.  
“Well he wanted me to go on a date with him”  
“Harry!” she didn’t seem impressed.  
“What? I didn’t think he’d actually let me drive his car” he defended himself, and wondered worriedly about the sly smile his mum was giving him.  
“So let me guess, you two are going on another date then?”  
Harry shrugged, stomach fluttering.  
“The first didn’t count” he said quietly, eyes fixed on his homework.

His mother tisked, “why do you have to be so difficult? This Louis boy obviously likes you”  
“I’m not difficult! I said yes, didn’t I?”  
“Yes, after he let you drive his car”  
“Oh, well. It’s still a yes”

His mother muttered away on her seat, but left him to his homework.

.  
.  
.

He called Nick later that night, knowing if there was anyone who would appreciate his blackmailing skills, it would be Nick.

“Harold! I thought you’d forgotten all about me! What’s up?”  
Harry told him the story, still chuckling at the memory of Louis’ tortured face.

On the other side, there was a whistle.  
“I always knew you were a devious kid, Harold, but this is just cruel”  
Harry laughed, “it was great though”  
“I can’t believe he let you. I wouldn’t let you drive my car even if you agreed to put out”  
“Hey!” he protested, trying to ignore the pleased feeling at the pit of his stomach that made him want to smile. He couldn’t believe it either.  
“You couldn’t afford me anyway” Harry teased.  
“Yes, you are just too much for me Harry. So when are you going on this date of yours? It is a – proper – date right?”  
“Tomorrow. And well, he said diner, so..”  
“Good. Make sure he treats you right, and if he doesn’t call me and I’ll come over to punch him for you”  
Harry grinned, “deal”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helloo, here's their first/second date. Let me know what you think.

.  
.

Lunch the next day was weird.

The first thing he noticed was that the football team was missing. The second was how empty the cafeteria seemed without the huddle of red-clad, boisterous boys.

He’d been sitting by himself for only a few minutes when he was joined by Perrie.  
“Hey Harry, you alright?”  
“Yeah” he shrugged, “where’s, um, where’re the guys?”  
She gave him a sly look, “where’s Louis, you mean”

Harry looked down, refusing to let her see the blush on his cheeks.  
She laughed, “I’m not sure” she answered, taking pity on him, “but I think I heard something about a team meeting?”  
Harry nodded.  
“I also heard” she leaned in, smiling wickedly, “that a certain someone has a date tonight”  
Harry smiled begrudgingly.  
“So how did that happen?”  
“I’m not sure” he answered honestly.  
She motioned for him to continue.  
“Honest, I don’t know. I was all set on never going out with him again, and then..” he shrugged helplessly, “at least I got to drive his car?”  
She gaped at him.  
“What?” he asked feeling self-conscious by the look she was throwing him.  
“He let you drive his car?”  
He chuckled, “yeah, I was surprised too”  
She laughed, loud and happy, head thrown back.  
“Damn, that boy must really like you Harry”

Harry blushed, not able to stop his smile.  
“You so like him” she gushed.  
Harry didn’t answer.

.  
.  
.

As usual, he skipped Maths.

He walked out towards the football field, thinking he really should start spending more time outside now that April was approaching and the weather was getting milder.

He immediately spotted the group of missing boys by the opposite side of the field, sat around in a circle on the grass. He hesitated for a second before walking towards them slowly. He was spotted a few seconds later by Niall, who waved his arm over his head, calling him over.

“Harry!” the blonde boy shouted, grinning happily, and Harry tried to remember a time when Niall wasn’t smiling.  
“Hey Niall” He stood awkwardly next to the group.  
“Curly! Looking for me?” Louis asked, smiling wide and patting the grass next to him.  
Harry rolled his eyes, “you wish”  
Louis glared, as the rest of them laughed.  
“Burn!” Danny said whilst Niall boomed out a laugh next to him.

Still Harry plopped down between Louis and Niall, and Louis was immediately back to smiling.  
“I thought you guys had a team meeting or something?” he asked.  
“So you were looking for me” Louis wiggled his eyebrows at him.

Harry threw him an unimpressed look.  
“Give it up Tommo” Danny said, but Louis shrugged, still smirking, arm going around Harry’s shoulder, and hand diving into his hair. Harry wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he’d missed that a little bit.

After a few more minutes of chatting, or in Harry’s case, watching as the others talked, he turned towards Louis, remembering something.  
“Shouldn’t you be in maths?”   
Louis arched an eyebrow at him, “shouldn’t you?”

Next to him Niall laughed, “look who’s asking!”  
Harry smiled sheepishly.  
“Besides,” Niall continued, “Lou here is a bloody maths genius. He catches up in about a minute, and then we copy off him”

That was surprising as much as it was weird. It wasn’t often you saw the popular guy, the football team captain, also be the maths nerd. 

Harry felt a bit off kilter. 

“Really?” he asked from under Louis arm, fighting off drowsiness. Having people play with his hair always made him sleepy.  
“Yep” Louis answered, smirking, “with me you get the whole package babe”  
Harry would normally have elbowed him for that. 

He decided to use Louis’ shoulder as a pillow instead.

Louis grinned.  
“So if you’re not having a team meeting, what are you doing?”  
“We are having a team meeting” Stan started, smiling slyly, and to his surprise, Harry felt Louis tensing up next to him.

Curious, Harry looked at the boy who had, to Harry’s displeasure stopped playing with his hair, and was glaring darkly at a grinning Stan.  
“Yeah, we’re making sure he won’t cock up his date with you tonight” Danny said, throwing Harry a little wink.  
Harry looked around the group in surprise, “really?”  
“Yep. He gets really whiny when you don’t talk to him, and we really can’t deal with a whiny Louis anymore” Danny said grimacing.  
“So what? You guys, have just been giving him tips?”   
“Not that I need any” Louis grumbled next to him.  
“I beg to differ” Harry said, nudging Louis’ side.  
“Harry!”  
“Shush! Shut up and listen” Harry said, motioning for the boys to keep going with their advice, grinning at the affronted look Louis was sporting.

.  
.  
.

He was nervous, which really (if he stopped to think about it) was stupid. He was too busy freaking out to think about it however.

Harry breathed out in frustration. Louis had said he’d be taking him to diner, but that could mean a lot of different things, and he ended up changing from a white button down to a black one to a white t-shirt to no top at all.

Grumpily, he stared at himself on his wardrobe mirror. He was wearing a fitting pair of dark blue jeans, feet and chest bare and hair up in a mess.

It was a quarter to seven and he wasn’t even close to being ready.

Putting on a pair of black converse, he swore under his breath as he heard the doorbell. He quickly threw on a black t-shirt, snatching his phone and wallet, before he hurried down the stairs, shoving his arms into the sleeves of a gray coloured blazer, grimacing at the sound of Louis’ voice mixed with his mum’s.

“Harry?” his mum called him, probably wondering where he was.  
“I’m here, I’m here” he said skidding into a stop in front of them, and mentally groaning at the twin smiles on both of their faces.

“You look good babe” Louis said, grinning.  
“Right” Harry rolled his eyes, he hated that name. ‘Babe’. It was so generic. He’d bet anything that it was how Louis called all his hook ups, before even knowing their names (and probably after too).  
“Harry” his mum scolded, “when someone pays you a compliment, you thank them” she looked mortified, but it was honestly no worse to how Harry was feeling.

Louis laughed, putting an arm around Harry’s shoulders.  
“It’s alright Anne, I’m used to Harry being difficult”  
His mum smiled, “I bet you are” she said, sending a stern look at Harry.

Great, he left the two of them alone for two minutes and they were suddenly on a first name basis and teaming up against him.

With a huff, Harry shrugged off Louis’ arm, starting towards the door.

“Bye Harry, have fun” his mum called out, and he could hear the sly smile in her voice.

He sulked out of the house, ignoring the two people laughing behind him. He was nearly by the car when Louis caught up with him, hurrying in front of Harry to open the passenger door for him.  
“What’s this?” Harry arched an inquisitive eyebrow, “one of the pointers your team gave you?”  
“My team was being silly” Louis rolled his eyes, leaning back against the car, the picture of nonchalance. Harry felt his stomach flutter.  
“It’s not like I needed those. I know I’m supposed to open doors for my dates”  
“Really?” Harry asked, lips quirking up into a smile, “well aren’t you a gentleman” he slid into the car, watching as Louis went around it, getting into his own side.  
“My mother will be pleased to hear that” Louis said with a grin.

Harry thought he didn’t like looking at Louis in the dark; and the car was dark, the light of a post lamp barely reaching inside.

This semi-darkness gave Harry the impression of glinting eyes and a glowing white smile and Harry hoped the hitch in his breath wasn’t noticeable; Louis at least, seemed unaware, busy buckling his seatbelt and switching on the car before turning to look at Harry.  
“Seatbelt on Curly” Louis said, leaning toward Harry to fasten it himself.

This time the sound of his quick intake of breath was unmistakeable and Louis slowly settled back in his seat, smirk growing, before reaching out, just as slowly, for Harry’s hair, hand buried into the messy, sometimes-curly-sometimes-not strands.

Harry leaned into it; he’d always liked having people play with his hair, besides Louis was still staring at him, and Harry was able to ignore his smug smile to fix on the blue irises. They were much more interesting anyway.

It felt like only a second later when Louis pulled his hand away and Harry blinked slowly, as if coming awake.

Harry cleared his throat, trying to get a hold of himself whilst Louis nodded to himself, looking like he’d figured out all the clues in a treasure map.

Harry wanted both to slap him, and to pull Louis closer into him, close enough to – 

“Ready for our second date?”  
“First” Harry corrected mindlessly, looking around, surprised to see they were parked in front of what looked like a French restaurant. Harry had never been here. They weren’t even inside yet, but the place looked fancy.  
“Nooo, second” Louis said opening his door for him so he could get out, “remember our first? It was only four days ago?”

Harry rolled his eyes, annoyed at the reminder, “that wasn’t a date, it didn’t count”  
“Why not?” Louis asked confused.  
“Because you took me to a party –“  
“What?” Louis interrupted, “how’s that not a date? All the girls and guys” he added with a sly look, “I’ve taken to parties, seem to think they are”  
“They are not your dates” Harry snapped, “besides, didn’t your team tell you you shouldn’t talk about all your hook ups when you’re on a date with someone? Not very useful, were they?”

Louis looked offended at the dig at his teammates; Harry was just soured at the reminder of their not-date and Louis’ hook ups.

When they finally got into the restaurant, they were still silent and this time, Harry had to open the door for himself.

He contemplated turning around and leaving, but then they were being taken to a ‘table for two please’ and he felt the opportunity pass.

Their waiter, a man called Patrick, with a thick accent and a bald head that didn’t match his young looking face, gave them menus, telling them he’d be back in a few minutes to take their order.

The two nodded still in silence, and Harry took the chance to look around.

He was right, the place was fancy. Everything from the shiny dark wooden floor, to the crisp white table cloths served to confirm his suspicions. There was also dark red flowers that Harry thought were carnations, gathered into little bunches on each table, and the lights were dimmed low, giving the place a very intimate, romantic atmosphere. The lack of people (it was a Tuesday after all) only served to enhance the feeling.

He suddenly felt a bit guilty, and very nervous again, stomach fluttering madly.

He took a quick glance at Louis, noticing the clenched jaw and tense shoulders, feeling his own slumping in response.  
“Do you… do you want to go?” he asked, and god, his voice sounded small.  
Louis’ gaze snapped up to meet his.  
“What? Go where?”  
“You know,” he shrugged, “leave?”  
“Why?” he sounded honestly confused.

Harry gave him an expectant look that said ‘you really don’t know?’  
Louis sighed, but there was a determined glint in his eyes.  
“Not leaving” he said stubbornly, “I let you drive my car for this”

Harry rolled his eyes, was that really the only reason why he didn’t want to leave?  
“We’ve been fighting all night Louis”  
“Yeah, but that’s your fault” he accused.  
“Excuse-me? How is it my fault?” he demanded.  
“Because you’re being difficult on purpose! You decided this wouldn’t work even before we got here”

Harry paused, guilt returning. He knew that Louis was right.  
“You said you’d give me a chance, but you’re not really doing that, are you?”

Harry sighed defeated, it pained him a little to admit Louis was right, “you’re right. I’m sorry”  
Louis gave him a searching look, “you’re actually going to give it a try?”  
“Yes”  
“Promise?”  
“Promise” and Louis’ lips stretched into a bright smile.

A second later, their waiter came back to get their orders.

“I can’t believe you like Pepsi” Louis said once Patrick had left.  
“I can’t believe you don’t!”  
“Too sweet” Louis said, wrinkling his nose, “I have something that’s sweet enough already” he grinned suggestively at Harry.

Harry blinked, taken aback by his own reaction to that statement. His face flooded with warmth and he was sure he was blushing all the way to the tips of his ears.

“Curly are you blushing?” Louis asked, face lighting up in delight.  
“No” Harry muttered, shame-faced to the table.  
“Yes you are!” Louis insisted, “you’re so cute”  
“I’m not cu-“ he cut himself off, biting his tongue. He couldn’t go back on his promise only minutes after making it.

Louis grinned happily at him, sipping his coke, and Harry felt Louis’ knee knock into his under the table.

Had they really been sitting so close to each other all this time? Harry didn’t think so.

His thoughts were cut off then by the mischievous look on Louis’ face as the older boy slowly moved until their ankles were hooked around each other.

Harry swallowed nervously.

“You said you live with your mum right?”  
Harry nodded trying to concentrate on what Louis was saying.  
“You don’t have any siblings then?”  
“What? Oh yeah” he nodded, ignoring the amused look Louis was throwing him.  
“I have a sister, Gemma”  
“I haven’t seen any little sister running around” Louis cocked an eyebrow, curious.  
“Oh no. She’s a few years older, she’s in uni”  
“So you’re the little baby brother then?” Louis teased , bare toes touching the skin around Harry’s ankle just under the hemline of his trousers. 

Harry smiled, in spite of himself.  
“I guess so”  
“You guys close though?” Louis asked, “cause I have like, a whole bunch of little sisters and I don’t even want to think of leaving them when I have to go to uni”

Harry looked at him, surprised at the admission, though it was really the soft look in Louis’ eyes that got to Harry. He played with the straw in his drink, feeling the butterflies in his stomach going crazy.

“Yeah” he said quietly, “we’re close. Her uni is not very far, two hours away at most, so she’s always over here for the weekends or I go over there to see her” he said with a shrug.  
“And she doesn’t mind?” Louis asked, leaning back to make room for their plates which were being placed in front of them. Harry who had to do the same, wondered when they’d even started leaning towards each other.  
“Why would she?” he asked confusedly as he picked up his fork and took a bite of his food.  
“Hmm” Harry hummed, pleased at the taste of his food.  
“Good?” Louis smiled and there was nothing cocky about this smile, so Harry sent him one back.  
“Really good”  
“Good, and I don’t know. Isn’t it weird having her little brother around with her friends at uni?” he asked, picking up their conversation.  
“Not really. Her friends like me”  
Louis rolled his eyes, “of course they do”

Harry stopped cutting his chicken for a second to look at Louis, “what do you mean?”  
Louis snorted, “I mean, of course they do. I can’t really imagine anyone not liking you”

Harry wondered whether he was being sarcastic.  
“Is that why I never see you around then?”  
“How do you mean?” Harry asked, reaching out to take a forkful of the food from Louis’ plate.

The older boy’s mouth pursed as if he wanted to say something about it, but surprisingly he let it go.  
“I mean, you don’t really go to parties and stuff when we hang out” Louis explained.  
“Well, I’m not Mr Popular, am I?” Harry teased with a quirk of his lips, “besides, I’ve never been invited”  
“You could be popular, if you wanted” Louis told him, “especially with that face”  
“I don’t though” Harry said, clearing his throat. He wanted to tap his feet on the floor, but Louis still had them locked between his ankles.  
“Why not?” Louis asked curiously.  
Harry shrugged, “It’s just. I don’t know, really. Just don’t” he answered, not too eloquently.  
“It’s not like I wanted to be popular either” Louis told him.

Harry couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing, probably a bit too loud, but he’d never heard anything funnier. 

“What?” Louis asked, “what’s so funny?”  
Harry sobered up at the frown on his face, but he was still panting, breathless from his outburst.  
“Nothing, is just. You didn’t want to be popular?” he didn’t bother to hide his scepticism. 

Louis’ eyes widened, and his face took on an expression of mock hurt.  
“Are you saying you don’t believe me? That hurts Curly”

Harry rolled his eyes, though he was surprised to realise that he was smiling at Louis’ theatrics. 

Huh.

“I didn’t though” Louis told him seriously, and there was no sign of sarcasm or playfulness, nothing that indicated he wasn’t being serious, “it just happened that way I suppose” he said with a shrug.

“But you don’t mind that it did” Harry looked at Louis.  
“No” Louis grinned, “I quite like it actually” and yes, that sounded a lot more like the Louis he knew.

When they were finished, they had another argument. Harry wanted to share the bill, Louis wouldn’t hear of it.  
“Louis” Harry hissed when Louis pushed Harry’s wallet back inside his pocket.  
“Na, na, na, Curly. The boys made it very clear that I should pay for my date, so that’s what I’m doing. Wasn’t it just yesterday that you were lecturing me about how to treat my date?”

Harry didn’t have an answer for that, so Louis grinned victorious at him and paid for the whole thing himself. Harry didn’t even want to think of how much it was (Louis hadn’t let him see it) he was sure it wasn’t cheap.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, Harry followed Louis out of the restaurant.  
“Hey,” Louis said, reaching out to put an arm around Harry, “don’t worry about it yeah? Besides, you should save your money to buy me a wicked great anniversary present!”

Harry huffed, “who says we’ll have an anniversary?”

And this time, it was Louis who burst out laughing. Harry crossed his arms, scowling.

“There’s the Curly I know” Louis grinned as he opened the passenger door for Harry.

Harry couldn’t stop his smile; especially not when Louis reached out a hand to tug on a few strands of his hair.

The lights in his house were still on when Louis parked the car in front of it, and Harry knew his mum was inside waiting curiously for him to tell her how the date went.

“Thanks Louis” Harry said when the car had stopped purring under him, “this was nice”  
“Just nice?” Louis asked, an affronted look on his face.

Harry laughed, “yep. Nice. That’s all you’re getting”  
“Unbelievable!” Louis grumbled, “I take you to a nice place with really good food and I’m a gentleman all nigh and all I get is – 

His whining was cut off when Harry leant in to kiss him on the cheek.  
“Night Louis” he said, getting out of the car and trying not to laugh at the shocked look on Louis’ face.

He’d barely stepped foot into the house when his mum showed up.

“How was it then?” she asked.

Harry tried not to smile too much in response, but by the amused look on her face, he though he was probably failing at it.

He was okay with that.  
.  
.  
.

When he woke up the next day, he had trouble believing that the past night wasn’t a dream.

He slid down the banister and went into the kitchen, puzzling over the night’s events.

He could almost believe he’d made up the whole thing if it wasn’t for the bumpy start they’d had.

It was with a blush and clumsy hands that he remembered the way Louis had kept their ankles locked together all night. He flustered around with his breakfast until it was safely put on a plate and had only managed to take a bite of his food when the doorbell rang.

He paused, knowing who it was; torn between not moving and running for the door.

Taking a deep breath, he told himself to walk slowly, trying to give himself time to calm down his suddenly pounding heart.

Pulling the dark wooden door open, he stared at Louis who looked just as cheery this morning as he usually did. Harry would never understand morning people.

“Hey Curly” Louis grinned, bringing him in for a hug. Harry’s arms went around his neck immediately. He inhaled, hands touching Louis’ nape where his hair was damp. Louis smelled good.

“Did you just have a shower?” Harry asked him once they pulled away, Louis following behind him into the kitchen.

“Mmm yeah, I just came from practise” Louis said, taking Harry’s previous seat and helping himself to Harry’s breakfast.  
“Hey” Harry complained, slapping the boy’s hands away, though all Louis did was grasp his and pull him until Harry fell on his lap with a surprised squeak.

“There. That’s better” Louis said, smiling in a self-pleased way, arm going around Harry to reach for the fork again.

Harry took a deep breath, rendered speechless for a minute.

He felt Louis’ free arm going around his waist, hand reaching under Harry’s jumper and settling on his lower belly.

Clearing his throat, he twisted around in Louis’ lap to look him in the face, eyes zeroing on the movement of Louis’ throat as he swallowed a mouth full of orange juice.

Harry wanted to lick his neck.

That wasn’t too weird, right?

“Shall we get going then Curly?” Louis asked, patting his side and snapping Harry out of his daze.

Harry jumped up off Louis’ lap, mentally telling himself to get a grip.

“Uh yeah, yeah. I’ll just go get my bag” he said, ignoring Louis’ bewildered look.  
“You alright Curly?” Louis asked as they headed out.  
“Yeah, yeah fine”

Louis gave him an unconvinced look, but got distracted by his radio, which was blaring out a ‘Psy’ song. Harry wasn’t sure which one, they all sounded the same to him.

“Ugh, Curly save us. I think my ears are bleeding!” Louis cried out making Harry laugh.  
“They are pretty bad” Harry agreed.  
“There’s nothing pretty about it babe” Louis quipped, driving around a corner.

Harry gave him a sideways look, “don’t call me that,” he told him.  
“What’s wrong with babe?” Louis asked loudly, as if he took personal offence to Harry’s dislike of the word.  
“I don’t like it” Harry answered.  
“Why?”  
Harry shrugged.  
“Nuh uh, if you don’t give me a reason, I’ll keep calling you it”

Harry rolled his eyes, “you’ll probably keep calling me that anyway”  
Louis winked at him, grinning.  
“C’mon then Curly, we have a lesson to get to”  
“Uh not really” Harry shrugged his arm off, “you have a lesson to get to, I have a lesson to skip”  
Louis stared, “what happened to my little cute and innocent Curly?”

Harry barked out a laugh, “you think I’m innocent” he said in between chuckles, “that’s funny”

“Also” Harry said, turning away and heading towards the football field, “I’m not little” he threw over his shoulder before moving out of Louis’ sight.

Innocent indeed.  
.  
.  
.

There was still fifteen minutes until the end of first period when Louis showed up. Harry checked, thinking how odd it was to see Louis walking by himself at school.  
“Hey” he said confusedly, an enquiring tone sipping into his voice.  
“Hey babe” Louis grinned. Harry was sure, he was calling him that on purpose now; it was like going back to middle school: you didn’t let it show that a nickname bothered you if you didn’t want it to stick.   
“Budge up”

Harry leaned up on his elbows, if Louis was offering to be his pillow he wasn’t about to say no. Anything was better than the hard metal of the bench he was laying on.

“How come you’re out so early?” he asked once Louis had settled under him, hand playing with his hair.  
“I finished the work early so McGregor let me go”

Harry sniffed indignantly at the injustice.  
“He’d never let anyone else go early”  
“Anyone else is not me” Louis puffed out his chest, “and I’m rather brilliant”

Harry wasn’t sure whether to laugh or slap him. He went with the latter.  
“Ouch! You like to hurt me don’t you?”  
Harry shrugged, “someone’s got to deflate your head a bit from time to time”  
“And you’re taking the job, are you?”  
“That’s right” he nodded looking up at a grinning Louis, “what’re you smiling about?”  
“You just said you’re going out with me” it didn’t seem possible, but his grin grew wider.  
“What? No I didn’t”  
“Nu uh uh” Louis said, tapping Harry on the tip of the nose, “you just said you’re gonna be sticking around a while, so that means we’re going out” he said matter-of-factly.

Harry thought that over. He supposed he had in a roundabout way implied that.

Oh.

“Since when are you so determined to go out with someone?” there was a note of panic in his voice, but if Louis heard it, he didn’t mention.  
“Since you” he answered instead.  
“Urgh” Harry groaned, “that’s so cheesy Louis”  
“What?” Louis grinned, “just being honest”  
“Yeah, well, your honesty is killing me. Please stop” he got up to gather his stuff once the bell went.  
“You hurt me Curly” Louis said, but he was still smiling brightly, so Harry thought that was okay.

“Come on then”  
“Waaait” fingers hooking around his belt loops, Louis pulled him back, turning Harry around in order to hug him.  
“Um” Harry said. God they were close, “what are you doing?” he asked stupidly, arms hanging down by his sides.  
“Hugging you” Louis said, as if it was obvious. Harry supposed it was.  
“Why?”  
“Cause I feel like it. You’re very huggable”

Harry rolled his eyes, finally bringing his arms to wrap around Louis shoulders.  
“Is that even a word?”  
“Sure it is!” Louis chirped, pulling back.  
Harry felt a little sad to let him go. Just a little.  
“Shall we?” Louis wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist, “can’t be late for English. Obviously you need it”  
“Hey!”  
.  
.  
.

Art seemed to pass by more slowly than ever, especially when the hour long lesson bled into a ‘little chat’ with Ms Brown that felt even longer than that.

He decided he’d hug Louis as much as the older boy wanted from now on when he showed up, cutting off Miss Brown’s string of inappropriate questions.

“Thank god” Harry muttered when they were finally out of the clutches of his evil-sweet teacher.  
“Does she always keep you behind?” Louis asked, throwing him an amused glance.  
“Yes!” Harry said in a huff, leaning sideways against Louis.  
Louis had the gal to laugh, “I think she likes you Curly”  
“Yeah” Harry sighed, “and the worst part is, she still thinks I’m straight!”  
Louis laughed again, “aww, poor Curly. Don’t worry though, now you have me to save you”  
“My hero” Harry mumbled.  
“C’mon, I’ll buy you some lunch” Louis said, nudging his side.  
“You better” he still hadn’t forgotten that Louis had eaten all his breakfast.  
.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit late, sorry about that.  
> Tell me what you think though. Like it? Not like it?

Spending lunch with Louis and his friends that day was a painful experience Harry wouldn’t like to repeat.

They all seemed to be in the same mindset. All of them focused on their game on Friday. 

Harry was sure he hadn’t heard a word that didn’t have to do with football for the whole time he was sitting there, not even the girl’s conversations gave him a reprieve. Apparently they were cheerleaders 24/7.

“Hey you’re coming right?” Danny asked him snapping him out of his stupor.   
“What?” he asked, wondering why they were all staring at him with expectant faces.  
“Of course he is” Louis said, tugging on a lock of Harry’s hair. He liked to do that a lot.  
“What?” Harry asked again.  
“The game Haz” Perrie told him, “honestly, where have you been for the past half an hour?” she laughed.

Here, unfortunately, he thought to himself before answering them.  
“Uh, when’s that again?”  
There were groans all around the table, and he smiled sheepishly at them.  
“Friday Harry” Liam told him.  
“Oh, oh. No I can’t” he cringed at the looks he got.  
“Why not?” Louis demanded.  
“Uh, I kind of have a thing?” this wasn’t going down well, he could tell.  
“A thing?”  
“Yeah”  
“What thing?”  
“Just – a thing Louis!” he snapped out. He didn’t like the way they were all staring at him with disappointed and disapproving gazes, making him fell guilty.  
“So you’re not coming?” Louis asked again. It was as if he couldn’t quite process the words.  
“No”

He squirmed uncomfortably at the silence that followed.  
“Sorry?” he tried, mentally berating himself; he should not be apologizing, he had no reason to. So what if he couldn’t go to the stupid game? There were lots more he could make it to.  
“Oi captain, are you sure you want to stick with this one? The guy can’t even bother to go to your game?” Zayn asked from the other side of the table, Harry had always suspected Zayn didn’t like him much, but still, he bristled, annoyed at the criticism.  
“Shut up Zayn” Louis snapped at him, face set into a scowl.

Harry missed the previous mind-numbing conversation.   
.  
.  
.

He spent the rest of the day with an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, as if it was clenched and all tied up in knots.

He didn’t like the fact that Louis was mad at him.

And Louis was very clearly mad at him. He still walked him to and from his classes for the rest of the day, but they walked in silence and Louis kept his hands to himself.

Harry didn’t even know the boy could keep quiet for so long. 

He wasn’t sure whether to reach for Louis himself or apologise again (though his mind screamed at him as soon as he thought about it), so he squirmed around, surprised at how he missed having Louis’ arm around him.

“Listen Harry,” Louis said at the end of the day, Harry was sure this was the first time Louis had called him by his name. “Can you get yourself home? I’d take you, but I’ve got practise”

Wondering if that was just an excuse, he followed after Louis.  
“Wait. Louis” he stopped the boy’s purposeful strides, grasping a handful of Louis’ red jacket.  
“Are you mad at me?” he knew the answer to that, of course, but he couldn’t help but ask.  
“Quite” Louis answered him promptly, looking down at where Harry still had a grip on his jacket, and then back up, arching an eyebrow expectantly.

Harry reacted to the look as if it was hot metal, letting go of him immediately.

“See you tomorrow” Louis said curtly before walking away.

Harry pressed his lips together, knowing he’d be pouting otherwise.

Spinning on his heels, he walked away in the opposite direction, telling himself resolutely, that Louis would forget about all this by tomorrow.  
.  
.  
.

“What’s wrong with you then?” his mum asked him after they spent most of the evening in silence.

Harry shrugged dolefully, “nothing”  
His mum threw him a ‘don’t give me that’ look, that made him sigh.  
“Louis is mad at me” he told her, glaring when she let out a laugh.  
“Sorry honey” she said, composing her features, “but you’re telling me that the reason why you’ve been miserable all night is because Louis is mad at you?”  
“I’m not miserable” Harry said frowning, he wasn’t. But he couldn’t get rid of the anxious feeling in his gut, and couldn’t for the life of him, get Zayn’s words out of his head.  
“Grumpy then” she corrected.

Harry shrugged again, shoulders coming up high before slumping again.  
“What did you do then?” she asked knowingly.  
Harry grimaced, “I told him I couldn’t go to his game on Friday. Apparently that’s some kind of sin or something” he grumbled.  
Anne chuckled, “why aren’t you going?”  
“I’m going up to see Nick” he told her.  
“Harry” she said, she sounded like she was about to scold him, “you said you won’t go to your boyfriend’s game, to go to one of Nick’s parties which you go to every week-end?”

Harry startled; going a painful shade of red as he cried out, “mum! He’s not my boyfriend!”  
“I hope you know you sound like a twelve year old Gemma when she denied having a crush” she told him, lips twitching.

Harry groaned loudly, was it too much to ask to have a supportive mum that sided with him every once in a while, instead of teasing him mercilessly all the time?

The sound of her laughter answered his question.  
.  
.  
.

The next morning Harry found himself playing with his scrambled eggs, foot tapping nervously on the floor as he checked his watch for the third time in as many minutes.

When the doorbell finally rang, he jumped off his chair and hurried to go greet Louis, throwing the door open with more enthusiasm than necessary. He ignored the warmth in his cheeks, and pulled a surprised Louis into a hug.

“Uh, Harry, I can’t breath” Louis said a few seconds later, voice muffled due to his face being pressed against Harry’s shoulder. Harry didn’t want to let go, in fact he wanted to keep hugging Louis until the older boy stopped calling him Harry.

He pulled away reluctantly, though he made sure to give Louis his cutest smile, “you hungry? I made breakfast”  
Louis rolled his eyes at him, “you make breakfast every morning Harry”  
“No, I mean, I made enough for you too. So you can stop stealing my food” he smiled, but all he got from Louis was an arched eyebrow.  
“Right” the boy said.

When he made sign to move, Harry tugged him by the sleeve of his jacket, leading him to the kitchen.

Harry watched as Louis ate in silence, muttering a “thanks” when he’d finished, before walking out without waiting for Harry to catch up.

The boy let out a defeated sigh; this was going to be a long day.

There was definitely nothing lucky about Thursdays.  
.  
.  
.

The rest of his day wasn’t much better.

Niall, Liam and Danny didn’t seem to be too happy with him either, so the only sympathy he got all day was from Ed, in gym.

“So they’re all mad at you cause you can’t make it to the game?”  
“Yes” Harry groaned, shoving his legs into the holes of his gym shorts; the stupid things were ridiculously tight around his hips.  
“Wow” Ed said, “I guess that’s what you get when you start dating the captain of the football team”  
“Don’t remind me” Harry groaned again, reminded of his earlier conversation with Louis. He wanted chatty, happy slightly-too-cocky-to-be-called-confident Louis back.  
“It’ll be fine mate” Ed said, patting him on the shoulder as they walked outside together, “he’s spent way too much time chasing after you to change his mind just because of one little thing”

And yes, okay, Harry hadn’t exactly been thinking about that, but now that Ed mentioned the possibility of Louis actually breaking up with him, he could feel his anxiety mounting.

He worried about that for the rest of the day, too distracted to dodge the soft balls being thrown his way, and extra aware of how tense Louis was whenever they walked together on the halls.

He had to walk home again that day.

By the time he saw Louis the next day, his nerves had shifted a bit into irritation. He couldn’t believe how bratty Louis was being about this.  
“Louis” he called out to the boy, who kept on driving in silence.  
“Louis!”  
“Louis, c’mon” he called again, as Louis got out of the car.  
“Louis” he pulled the boy back until they were facing each other, “c’mon, you’re being ridiculous”  
Louis scoffed, “whatever Harry”  
“Lou” he was whining now, oh god, “don’t be mad…please? I promise I’ll come to your next game”

Louis shook his head at him.  
“I pinky promise?” Harry tried.  
“What thing?” Louis asked him out-of-nowhere.  
“What?” Harry frowned, confused.  
“You said you have a thing tonight, what is it?”  
“Uh” Harry stuttered, reminded of his mum’s words, “I’m going up to a friend’s party” he was very aware of how that sounded, and he shrunk backwards at the glare Louis sent his way, shaking off Harry’s grip on him.  
“Wait. Lou” he hurried to keep up with Louis, “don’t be mad. Please?” he repeated.

Deciding it was time to bring up the big guns, he went around Louis, hands reaching to frame the angry boy’s face and planted a kiss right smack on Louis’ slack-with-surprise mouth.

He had intended to keep the kiss short, but as soon as he pulled away, Louis was reaching for him, one arm going around his waist, the other on the back of his neck.

Forcefully, Louis pulled him back in, chests colliding together in a way that stole Harry’s breath.

He was unable to stop Louis, who seemed desperate for more now that he had a taste, tongue prying open Harry’s lips, pressing him closer, closer, until – 

Until they heard catcalling all around them and were forcefully pulled apart by Louis’ grinning teammates.

“Way to go Tommo!” Niall said, slapping Louis on the back.  
“The hell?” Louis spat out, “go away Niall” he reached for Harry again and Harry was very much willing to go with him, except Danny was pulling him back and away from Louis.  
“Now, now boys. Wouldn’t want to cause a scene would we?” he grinned mischievously at them.

Harry wanted to punch him. From the look on Louis’ face, it was obvious he mirrored the sentiment.

“Get off him Dan” Louis grumbled, breaking away from Niall, and striding towards Harry, arms going back around his waist.  
“Promise you’ll come to my next game?” he seemed ready to forget the whole ordeal, so Harry nodded eagerly.  
“And you’ll cheer for me?”  
“Course” Harry wanted to kiss him again.  
“And you’ll wear my jacket?”

Harry spluttered, surprised out of his enchanted daze.  
“What?!”

He heard Niall letting out a dramatic ‘oooh’ but he didn’t take his eyes off Louis.  
“My letterman jacket. You’ll wear it?” there was a note of challenge in Louis’ voice, and the way his eyebrows were raised was a clear reminder that yes, Harry owed him.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Harry agreed, “okay, fine”

The transformation was immediate. The purse on Louis’ lips vanished and his eyes cleared.  
“Promise?”  
“Yeah”

Louis smiled, though it was more of a smirk than a smile, and Harry wondered for a second if he’d been played, but then Louis was leaning down to kiss his lips and he found he didn’t care much either way.  
.  
.  
.

The rest of the school day went by pretty fast. Harry was only annoyed at the fact that Louis’ teammates seemed determined to keep the two of them separated.

“No, no, no” Stan said, shoving himself between Louis and Harry where they were sitting in the cafeteria.  
“None of that Tommo. We have a game to play today, you have to be focused”

Louis glared at him, “I swear to god Stanley, if you don’t move right now-“  
“I’m sure you can stay without Harry here for a few minutes” he wiggled his eyebrows.

Louis huffed angrily.  
“Come sit by me Haz” Perrie asked, opposite him, “better get out of there before they start throwing punches around”

Danielle, one of Perrie’s cheerleader friends giggled next to her as Harry looked at them wide eyed.

They wouldn’t really punch each other, would they?

“No” Louis said curtly, leaning over Stan to pull on Harry until the younger boy was forced to awkwardly climb over Stan until he fell on Louis’ lap.

There were a lot of ‘ooohs’ and whistling and smirking going on around the table, but Louis’ arms were back around his waist, keeping him close, and Harry found he didn’t care much about the lewd looks they were getting from Louis’ teammates or the dirty glares he was getting from some of the cheerleaders and most other girls around the cafeteria.

.  
.  
.

“How was history?” Louis asked him when he was finally finished with his last lesson of the day.  
“Uneventful” he said, hurrying over to Louis’ side.

It wasn’t quite true however. He spent the whole lesson squirming away in his seat, thoughts torn away between thinking about the way Louis’ lips had felt against his, and being uncomfortably aware of the fact that Stacy and girl number two (he really should learn her name. But then again, he didn’t really care) were very obviously talking about him, throwing him glares over their skinny shoulders.

He tried not to let it bother him, turning around often to talk to Danny and Sara. They were a crazy duo, with sly smiles, mischievous eyes, and enough wit to back up their sharp personalities.

Both dark haired and gray eyed, they almost looked mean when together. Harry was just happy that he knew better now than to be scared by them.

Still, by the time the bell went, he was very much ready to run out, which he did, knowing Louis would be outside for him.

“Come on then, I’ll give you a ride home” 

Harry grinned, when Louis’ arm wrapped around him.

“Don’t you have a game to play?”  
“Not until later” Louis said, his lips twitched up into a little smile that exuded mischief, “and we better get out of here before my beloved teammates decide to kidnap me or something”

Harry let out a little breath that was half a huff, half a chuckle and nodded.

They walked quickly towards the car park, and Harry knew that it was because Louis hadn’t been completely kidding; his teammates were very much capable of kidnapping their captain. Harry had learnt in the last couple of days that those boys took their games very seriously.

“So, what time is this party of yours?” Louis asked once he’d parked in front of Harry’s house.  
“Not until nine. But I still have to drive up there”  
Louis frowned, “what? Where the hell is it?”  
“It’s up where Gemma goes to uni”  
“You’re driving all the way up there just for a party, instead of coming to my game?” there was a scowl on his face.  
Harry sighed, “Louis”  
“What?” Louis asked crossing his arms, a petulant look on his face.  
“We’ve talked about this Lou”  
“Hm” Louis sniffed haughtily, “don’t try to buy me with nicknames Curly, it won’t work”

But Harry grinned, knowing Louis wasn’t really mad; he’d called him Curly.  
“Sorry babe” he said, trying out the so-hated pet name, hand reaching for Louis’ nape, where he played with the baby hair.

This time it was his turn to smirk, pleased at the effect the word had on Louis who looked very flustered all of a sudden.

Seeing the smirk on Harry’s face, Louis composed himself.  
“Come here” he said firmly, reaching out to guide Harry towards him, close enough to press his lips against Harry’s.

Harry in turn, closed his eyes and happily let Louis attack his mouth, opening up to him with a little pleased hum.

Yes, yes, he decided. He liked kissing Louis.

He liked kissing Louis a lot.  
.  
.  
.

After his time with Louis that afternoon, he had to admit that his night was a bit of a letdown. 

He spent all night drinking and pushing pushy people away; the reminder that he sorta-kinda had a boyfriend now managing to make his heartbeat speed up every time he thought about it.

Louis had texted him sometime in the night, telling him he had won (which Harry took to mean the team had won) and that he was at a party celebrating with the guys.

It all just made Harry wistful, especially as he looked around at dancing and kissing couples.

Though it had been a terrible idea for a first date, Harry thought he’d like to go to a party with Louis (as long as he didn’t ditch him to go dance with some girl) he’d like to dance with Louis - not that he was a very good dancer, but to be that close to the older boy, when the lights were dimmed, and the air smelt like sweat and alcohol. Yes, he’d like that.

He’d like it if Louis shoved him against the closest wall and snogged him senseless like he did that afternoon, pressing their lips together and bodies close. 

Feeling wound up, Harry downed the shot of what he thought was tequila, grimacing at the strong taste, though he smiled immediately after at the warmth that spread up from his chest to his now flushed face.

He was smiling dopily at nothing when Nick found him.

One wouldn’t be able to tell Nick was drunk, because he was just as loud and exuberant when he was sober, but the way his words were slightly slurred and his face was an uncomfortable shade of red was enough to tell Harry he was completely wasted.

“Harold, there you are” Nick said stumbling along as he pulled a guy not much younger than himself behind him.

He seemed to be around Harry’s height with a blonde fringe that fell into his eyes and sweet brown eyes.

“Look what I found” he said loudly, shoving the boy into a seat in front of Harry, “enjoy!” he sung out, before drunkenly stumbling away and out of sight.

“Er” Harry looked at the boy who seemed to be blushing.

Well either that or he was completely pissed. Something told Harry that wasn’t the case.  
“Hey mate” he greeted when the boy didn’t say anything.  
“Hi” he answered, his voice was low and quite pleasant, it was just too bad he didn’t seem able to look Harry in the eyes.

“I’m Harry” he introduced himself, pouring some more tequila into two shot glasses and giving one to him.  
“’m Mason” the boy smiled, but made no move to drink the drink in his hand.  
“You go here then?” Harry forced himself to ask, he was pretty sure of what Nick’s intention had been when he left the guy with Harry, but Harry unlike on previous occasions, found himself wanting to leave.  
“Yeah, um, I’m in my second year” he said to his knees, occasionally stealing glances at Harry.

It was sweet, and he was obviously shy, and Harry felt bad, but he really wanted to leave now.

“Look” he started, planning on apologising and just telling him he had a boyfriend, but Mason interrupted him before he could.  
“I’m sorry Nick just kinda dumped me on you” he said with an embarrassed grimace, “it’s just, he saw how I’ve been looking at you all night and he said he’d introduce me… I didn’t know that was how he was gonna do it” he shrugged, still looking down at his still full glass.  
“Right” Harry grimaced, “that’s Nick for you”

Mason smiled and Harry spied perfectly straight white teeth.

“So, um, do you want to dance?”

It looked like it’d taken a lot from him to ask Harry, and Harry felt so guilty he almost said yes, except there was a hopeful look in the brown eyes that told Harry a dance wasn’t all he was asking for, and Harry couldn’t.

“Sorry mate” he said already grimacing at the dejected look on the blonde’s face, “it’s just, I’m kind of with someone”  
“Oh, oh yeah, yeah okay. Sorry, I’ll leave you alone then” he said standing up and stumbling away clumsily, cheeks obviously red even in the dark room.

Harry sighed before going to find Nick. It wasn’t hard, he was sat on the couch in the middle of the dark living room, a group of people around him and Grace, one of Nick’s friends was placed on his lap, the end of a cigarette butt between her thumb and index finger.

“Nick” he said squeezing himself on the couch between Nick and two other girls who he didn’t know. 

“Harold, what are you doing here? Where’s Jason?” Nick asked, plucking the cigarette out of Grace’s fingers.

“You mean Mason?” Harry frowned.  
“Yeah! Shouldn’t you be sucking each other’s faces in some abandoned corner by now?”  
“Is that why you left him with me? You know I’m with Louis now”  
“Oooh, don’t tell me little Harry has found himself a boyfriend” Grace said, flicking her long blond her behind her shoulder and giving him a lazy look.  
“He didn’t” Nick said drily, and Harry wondered when he’d had time to sober up.  
“You’ve two been on one date, you’re not dating”   
“We are too” Harry disagreed, reminded of Louis’ words.  
“You are not. Harold, you’re not. Give me your phone”  
“Why?” Harry frowned, giving Nick his phone with that weird feeling in his gut that told him he was going to regret it.  
“Here I’ll ask him”  
“Ugh” Harry groaned, “don’t”  
“Here, here” Nick said, leaning sideways excitedly to show Harry the screen of his phone, much like an excited teenage girl, giddy because of a text from a crush.

Curious, Harry leaned in.

‘Hey, quick question, are we dating, cause there’s this really fit boy here, and he totally wants in my pants’

“Nick!” Harry shoved Nick sideways with his shoulder.  
“Oi, you two, stop being such girls. Give me that” Grace said, still perched on Nick’s lap, and snatched the phone from Nick.

As soon as her slim fingers had closed around it, the phone came to life. They all watched as texts came, one beep after the other.

‘Harry?

The first text said, and Harry was pleased that at least Louis could tell the text didn’t quite sound like Harry.

‘What the hell?’

‘Of course we are’

‘You’re mine’

‘I swear to god Harry, that asshole better keep his hands off you’’

The three of them stared at the phone, none of them more surprised than Harry, who was trying to contain his smile at the words.

You’re mine

“Well somebody’s possessive” Grace said drily, before getting up and going after more drinks, and throwing the phone back at Harry.  
“Told you” Harry said, taking deep pleasure in saying those words to a gobsmacked Nick.

Nick grumbled, “yeah, yeah. Still a waste, that guy I brought you was hot”  
“And really shy” Harry raised his eyebrows.  
“So?”  
“So?” Harry asked disbelievingly, “since when is he my type?”

Not that he hadn’t been attractive or anything, but Harry was more partial to confident people.

“He was cute, and sweet, and really fucking hot. That’s should be everyone’s type, Harold” Nick said as if the fact that Harry didn’t know that was a great disappointment to him.

Harry rolled his eyes, though he was distracted a second later by his phone, which was once again beeping away. This time the message was from Liam.

‘Um Harry what did you say Louis? He’s going a bit crazy over here”

Harry grimaced, “shit”

‘Lou, sorry. That wasn’t me, that was Nick’

That however didn’t seem to be reassurance enough, because a second later, his phone was blaring unheard in his hands, and with another grimace, he hurried out of the house, bringing the phone to his ear.

“Hey Lou” he started, only to be cut off by Louis.  
“Harry what the fuck is going on? Who the hell is Nick?” came Louis’ voice. He didn’t sound angry, surprisingly, he sounded…desperate.  
“Um, that’s my friend. You know, the one who’s throwing the party?”  
“The fuck was he talking about, are you with someone?”  
“No-“  
“You remember what we talked about yeah? You’re mine remember?”

That was possessive, Harry told himself, almost too possessive maybe. It still didn’t push away the little fluttering, curling feeling of pleasure in his chest.

“Lou, I know, I remember, I’m not with anyone yeah?” he reassured quickly.  
“Are you sure?”

Harry wanted to laugh, it was like the time Louis had asked him if he was sure he was gay; as if he wouldn’t know it himself.

“Pretty sure Lou” he said softly.  
“And… and you’re not gonna get with anyone right? Cause I’m not with…I’m not doing that”

Harry swallowed at the admittance, chest swelling with a feeling he couldn’t name.

“No, I’m not” Harry answered.

This time, Louis took longer to answer.

“Good” he said, and he sounded almost hesitant, “good” he repeated.  
“Yeah” Harry agreed, smiling softly. It was a good thing Louis couldn’t see him, because he didn’t think he’d be able to hide the tenderness he was feeling.

“When…when are you getting back then?” Louis asked, after clearing his throat.  
“Probably, um, Sunday night. I usually stay the weekend when I come over”

Louis groaned, “Curlyyy”  
Harry chuckled, “sorry Lou”

His smile broadened at the sound of Louis huffing. Honestly he couldn’t wait to go back.  
.  
.  
.

“Soo tell me everything” Gemma said on Sunday morning.

Harry gave her a strange look, Gemma seemed like she was about to start bouncing in her chair. Harry thought it was too early to be this excited.

“Everything what?” He asked confused, looking back at the working area of the coffee place, longingly waiting for his to be ready.

Too early, yes. Definitely.

Gemma rolled her eyes in exasperation, “everything about Louis, you idiot. Are you guys dating yet? Well probably not with how difficult you are. Have you kissed? C’mon you must have kissed him. Right?” she rambled on.

Harry had a headache and he wanted his coffee.

“Obviously” he grumbled at her, smiling only when the waitress came over to bring their drinks. He brought the mug up to his face, inhaling the smell of caffeine. He felt better already.

“Obviously you’re dating or obviously you’ve kissed?” She prompted, taking a sip of her Earl Grey.

Harry grunted, “both”

Gemma squealed loudly which got a few dirty looks sent their way, and Harry almost rolled his eyes, except those stupid butterflies were fluttering away again at the reminder of their kisses.

“I don’t believe you” she said though she was grinning so wide her face must’ve been hurting.

Her good mood was contagious, (and the caffeine was working it’s magic) so a grin slowly found its way to Harry’s lips.  
“Well, it’s true” he said calmly, hiding his coy smile behind his mug.  
“I don’t believe it” she said again, cup of tea only half way up to her lips.

He grinned abashedly, and that more than anything seemed to convince her of the truth.  
“Oh my god, my baby brother’s got a boyfriend”

This time he did roll his eyes.

“Is he a good kisser? Have you guys had sex yet?” she whispered excitedly.  
“Ugh” Harry groaned, “we’re not talking about this”  
“What? Why not? Don’t act like I haven’t caught you with your trousers down before”  
“Gemma!” he hissed, face aflame, whilst she laughed loudly at him.

Harry shook his head, “whatever, how’s Ben been then?”  
.  
.  
.

The first thing Louis did when he saw Harry on Monday was shove Harry inside against the hall, and kiss him senseless.

Harry was more than pleased, reaching out to grip Louis by the back of his neck, fingers toying with the soft hair there.

He made a soft sound to show his displeasure when Louis made pull away, chasing after his lips and pulling Louis harder against him until he could feel him all the way down to their touching toes.

“What was that for?” Louis asked breathlessly once Harry let him go.  
Harry shrugged, “just congratulating you for the game”  
“Hm” Louis narrowed his eyes, “don’t think you’re getting out of our deal Curly”

Harry rolled his eyes, “yeah, yeah, I know, I’ve got to wear your jacket like some stupid groupie”  
“Noo” Louis said elongating the word and pulling Harry onto his lap so they could have breakfast together, “you’ll wear my jacket cause you’re mine”  
“That’s not much better” Harry teased.  
“Curly!” Louis reprimanded, tugging hard at a lock of Harry’s hair in punishment.

Harry grinned, twisting in his seat to kiss Louis again.

“You’re very affectionate today” Louis said suspiciously.

Harry shrugged, leaning down to take a bite of his omelette, Louis’ hands holding onto his waist. 

“So, that party of yours” Louis said after a few minutes of silence.

Harry bit his lip chagrined, “oh that”  
“Yes that. What was that exactly Harry?”

Harry decided he really didn’t like it when Louis called him by his name. He stiffened in Louis’ arms, guilty like a child caught with his hands on the cookie jar.

He turned sideways on Louis’ lap, omelette forgotten.  
“Um” he stuttered nervously.  
“Who was that guy then? The one that – the one that” his jaw clenched angrily and he seemed unable to finish his sentence.  
“Mason?” Harry asked timidly.  
“Who’s Mason?” Louis snapped and Harry was quick to reply with a ‘no one’.

“I mean” he amended at Louis shrewd look, “he was the guy that was – uh – flirting with me”  
Harry thought flirting was a bit of an overstatement, but Mason’s intention had been clear so there was nothing else he could call the whole debacle.

He grimaced when he heard the sound of Louis gritting his teeth.  
“And?”  
“And nothing Lou” Harry shrugged, “I told him I was with someone and he left”  
“You did?” Louis seemed surprised.  
“Yeah, which is when Nick sent you that text. He was mad that I just let the guy go”  
“Hnf” Louis sniffed mightily.  
“Who’s this Nick anyway?” he asked after a few minutes of playing with Harry’s hair.  
“He’s my best mate, he goes to the same uni as my sister, that’s how I met him”

Louis sniffed affectedly, and Harry twisted around to glare at him, “what now?”  
“Nothing” Louis said in the type of infuriating tone that made it obvious that it was something.

Harry levelled him with a hard stare, but to his astonishment, all it resulted was on Louis smiling.  
“You’re so cute when you’re trying to be all angry and serious”  
Harry rolled his eyes, “don’t change the subject Tomlinson, spit it out”  
“Tomlinson” Louis repeated, “that’s hot” he smirked, squeezing Harry’s sides.  
“Fine, be like that then” Harry huffed, getting off Louis’ lap and putting his plate in the dishwasher.  
“Ah ah ah” Louis yanked him by the wrist when Harry made to walk past him, “what happened to affectionate Curly?”  
“You tired him out”

Louis raised his eyebrows, smirking lewdly and Harry groaned feeling extremely irritated.  
“I meant you annoyed me! Jesus Christ” he swore under his breath shaking off Louis’ grip and going to find his bag and shoes so they could leave.  
“Come on Curly, I was kidding!”  
“You’re an idiot” Harry muttered, walking outside and leaving Louis behind to close the door.

They drove all the way to school in silence, Harry refusing to talk to Louis when he was being so impossible.

“Don’t be mad Curly” Louis grinned crookedly, trapping Harry between him and the passenger door.  
“Don’t be annoying then” Harry muttered ignoring the looks and hollers they were getting from other students.  
“Afraid that can’t be helped” Louis said, swallowing the ‘obviously’ in a kiss before Harry could say it.

“Will you two cut that out?” Zayn grumbled annoyed, as he and the rest of the boys circled around them in typical fashion.  
“What crawled up your arse and died?” Louis pulled away from Harry and arched an eyebrow at the brown skinned boy, but Harry couldn’t help but notice that this wasn’t the first time Zayn had been a bit curt when it involved Harry.

Zayn sent Louis (and Harry) a withering glare, but all Louis did was reach out to pull the corners of Zayn’s mouth up in a twisted sort of smile, until the boy managed to break free with a muttered “piss off”

“Cheer up Zayn. It’s enough I have to deal with grumpy over here” Louis said, throwing his arm around Harry in a move that was quickly becoming familiar.  
“Yeah” Niall cheerfully agreed, “besides, how can you not melt at this two together? They’re adorable!” Niall boomed, reaching out for Harry’s cheeks.

Harry gaped, horrified at the act and shrinking back into Louis.

“Louis!” he whined, “he pinched my cheeks, we talked about this. No pinching my cheeks!” he said a tad desperately.  
“You’re right” Louis said amusedly, wrapping his arms around Harry from behind and batting Niall’s hand away.  
“Hands off Ni” Louis said, and he didn’t sound like he was completely kidding.

Harry gave him a puzzled look before his attention was taken away by Stan.

“You’re so whipped man, what happened to you?” he despaired.  
“I’m not whipped” Louis was offended, “I’m just defending what’s mine” he said smugly.

There was a chorus of groans coming from the other boys, and Harry looked down to hide his smile.

“Whipped” Danny coughed out, not too subtly.

Before Louis could argue again, Harry turned around in the circle of Louis’ arms and planted a kiss on his lips, flipping the boys off when they started groaning in complaint, still attached to Louis by the lips, and this time it was Louis who chased after him when he started to pull away, argument completely forgotten.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story wasn't supposed to get this long, honestly, I don't even know anymore.

They played football in gym again, and it was safe to say Harry’s team wasn’t very pleased with him, with the obvious exception of Ed.

“Wise” was all he said with a pat to Harry’s shoulder, when instead of fighting for the ball, Harry completely dodged away when he saw one of his opponents running at him.

“Harry what were you doing?” Coach Carter asked him at the end.

Harry shrugged in response.

“You’re supposed to either keep the ball or pass it to one of your teammates, not run away from it!”

Harry gave another half-shrug, “I’d rather keep my limbs intact thanks”  
Coach sighed, pinching his nose in aggravation, “well it’s a good thing you’re not actually on the team”

Harry laughed at that, amused at the very idea, “you know it coach”

.  
.  
.  
“Well I don’t blame you” Ed told him back in the changing room, “I’d dodge too if I saw some football crazie running right at me”

Harry chuckled at the term, but since half the football team was in his gym class, the term was accurate enough. Those guys could really get into the game.

Harry could too of course, as long as he was watching from the sidelines instead of participating.  
“Yeah” Harry agreed, “talk about tunnel vision”

Liam especially was known to come after Harry to apologise after games (well, at least after his thing with Louis had come about). He was prone to be a bit too determined when it came to it.

Niall and Dan too tackled him to the ground more than once and it was only when the game was finished that they came to ask if Harry was alright, but Harry was used to it, he wasn’t an unfit person, but he surely wasn’t sporty, his lack of coordination prevented him from that.

He’d fallen on his ass way too much, he wasn’t going to let it happen too often if he could help it, even if that meant running away from other players. 

He had more self-preservation than that, thank you very much.

“Hey, how come I didn’t see you at the game on Friday? You really didn’t come?” Ed asked while they waited for the bell to ring.  
“I told you I couldn’t make it, I’d agreed to go to a friend’s party already”  
Ed snorted, “bet Tommo didn’t like that huh?”  
Harry grimaced, “no, not really”  
“You guys are alright though, cause I saw you sucking faces this morning”

Harry had the decency to blush, “yeah, we, uh, made a deal?”

Ed looked at him curiously.

“Ugh, I have to go to his next game wearing that stupid varsity jacket of his”

Ed let out a startled burst of laughter, “You’re kidding! You?!”  
Harry groaned, “I’m trying not to think about it until I have to”

When the bell finally went, they left together. Next to him, Ed was still chortling amusedly whilst Harry scowled at him.

“Hey babe” Louis who as usual was waiting outside, pulled Harry into a hug, side-eyeing Ed.  
“Hey mate, you’re Ed right?” Louis asked wrapping a possessive and really unsubtle arm around Harry’s waist.

Harry looked at him bewildered and amused, and Ed’s lips twitched up into a grin.

“Yeah man” he agreed, finally composing his facial features, “I’ll see you later Harry” he gave half a wave before leaving.

“What was that?” Harry asked just as Liam, Niall and Dan walked up to them.  
“What?” Louis asked innocently.

Harry was about to press the subject, when Niall tackled him into a hug, “Harry man, you alright? Sorry about that last bit”

Harry huffed, knocked breathless, “yeah, I’m alright Niall”  
“Niall will you get off him” Louis snapped in annoyance  
“Sheesh, someone’s possessive. Good luck with that Hazza” Niall told him before scampering off.

Louis scowled at his vanishing figure and Harry hid his smile on Louis’ shoulder.

.  
.  
.  
Harry wasn’t too thrilled right now. He’d been guilt tripped into coming to one of Louis’ football practises.

“Why do you even have practise?” he’d asked confused, “you just had a game on Friday!”  
“Have to keep those boys in shape Curly” Louis wiggled his eyebrows at him and proceeded to remind him that he’d missed his game of Friday when Harry said he didn’t want to go.

So here he was. He felt a bit weird really, especially with the way the boys kept throwing him sly looks every time they ran past him.

“Hey babe” Louis said breathless, plopping down on the grass where Harry was sprawled out. It was a sunny day, so Harry was taking advantage of being here to lie down on the grass and catch some sunlight whilst listening to music.

He occasionally focused on the game in front of him, a whole bunch of attractive, sweaty guys running in front of him wasn’t a bad view, especially when that view included Louis, who made sure to come over and check on him every few minutes, face shiny and hair damp with sweat.

On second though, watching their practise was definitely a good way to spend his afternoon.

Distractedly Harry pulled his earphones out.  
“Hey Lou” he said, blinking lazily, eyes focused on the bead of sweat running down the side of Louis’ face.

Grinning Louis leaned in to nip at his top lip.

“Oi Tommo when did you get all mushy? Oh wait” Stan shouted from mid field, prompting laughter from the rest of the team.  
“Hey that’s enough! What’s going on with you? Tomlinson get back to the game!” Coach Carter shouted from where he was standing a few feet away from Harry.

“Sorry babe gotta go” Louis grinned, running back into the game and promptly stealing the ball from a still distracted Stan.  
“Hey!”  
“That was for saying I’m mushy!” Louis shouted already far into the other side of the field.

Harry smiled and went back to his music.

Twenty minutes later when Louis had come back to steal another kiss from Harry, his coach finally lost patience.

“Tomlinson, get your ass back here or I swear to god I’m benching you!”

.  
.  
.

 

On Thursday after yet another one of Louis’ practises, Harry found himself in Louis’ car.

They’d been parked in front of his house for a while now. Harry didn’t want to invite him in just yet because doing so felt different in the afternoons than it did in the mornings. Still he wanted to spend time with Louis (god help him).

Though ridiculously cocky and self-assured, Louis was very funny, and Harry found that if he could look past Louis’ dramatics, (he was quite good at that after being friends with Nick for so long) then he really enjoyed his time with the older boy.

Another pro to spending time with Louis was the kisses. It seemed the more he kissed Louis, the more he liked it and the more he wanted to do it.

Now for example, when Louis was quite literally ravishing his mouth and throat, planting wet kisses and nips and bites all over his neck.

He felt his breath hitching as Louis bit him on the neck just under his right ear, licking over the mark he made immediately after.

Grabbing him by the hair on the back of his neck, Harry brought him back up, and Louis obediently pressed his lips into Harry’s in another bruising kiss.

“Lou” Harry panted out a warning when he felt Louis’ hands start to wonder.  
“Hmm” Louis hummed distractedly, too busy kissing all over Harry’s jaw.

When he showed no signs of stopping, Harry pushed him away, hands on Louis’ shoulder, persisting until the older boy retreated, breathing irregular, resting back on his seat.

Maybe Harry was a tease, but he couldn’t resist leaning over for another kiss, though he made sure to keep this one short, lest Louis got too into it.

“So Curly” Louis started once Harry had stubbornly pulled away, “what are you doing this week-end?”

Harry shrugged, “’m not sure, I think Nick might be coming over. Why?”  
Louis grinned, “me and the boys are going ice-skating, and /you/” he leaned in for a quick peck, “are required to come with me”  
“Oh am I?” Harry asked distractedly; more interested in puckering his lips to receive another kiss.  
“Yep” Louis said simply, smacking their lips together.  
“Alright” Harry conceded, it didn’t sound like it had the potential of being a complete disaster at least.

Louis beamed, though surprise showed in his features as if he hadn’t been expecting Harry to agree so quickly.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow” Harry smiled at Louis, quickly getting out of the car before he could be sucked back in, lured by Louis’ very inviting, very experienced lips.

.  
.  
.

“How are things with Louis?” his mum asked him at dinner later that day.

Amazing. Terrific.

Harry shrugged, red cheeks betraying him as he answered her with faked indifference, “alright”

Anne smiled knowingly at him, but thankfully dropped the subject.  
“How’s Nick then, is he coming over this week-end?”  
“Hm, yeah, I think so. You know how Nick is, changes his mind a hundred times a day”

Anne laughed, “I miss him, he hasn’t been over in a while”  
Harry rolled his eyes, “it’s been like, three weeks mum”  
“Still. Tell him I’m not very happy with him at the moment”  
“Tell him yourself” Harry said drily, “if you think I don’t know you two text each other gossiping about me every day, then you’re very mistaken”

His mum giggled unabashed, and didn’t even bother to deny it.

Harry shook his head. /Honestly/.

.  
.  
.

On Friday morning Harry got a text from Nick saying he’d definitely be coming over, and with a feeling of trepidation dawning on him, he started wondering how good of an idea it was to introduce Nick to Louis.

He shook the thought away, deciding he’d deal with it when he had to, and hurried to get ready for school.

“You’re coming to maths today” Louis told him once they arrived at school.  
“I am?” Harry arched an eyebrow at him, though admittedly, it was more like raising both eyebrows. He could never manage only one.  
“Yeah, c’mon” he started guiding Harry towards the maths department, but Harry sunk his heels down, refusing to get anywhere near the place.  
“Ooh I don’t think so. You go ahead and I’ll see you later”  
“Curly – “  
“Uh uh” Harry disentangled himself from Louis, “bye Lou”  
“Traitor!” Louis shouted down the corridor, but Harry only smiled and kept walking.

He went back outside to enjoy another sunny day, the weather had been very nice all week; it was quite the streak.

Putting his earphones in, he took out his phone. It was still only ten past nine, so smiling wickedly; he proceeded to send Nick lots of jumbled letters, all of them in separate texts, so Nick’s phone would keep on beeping.

He grinned victoriously a few minutes later when his phone rung.  
“What, what, what, you annoying pest?!”

Harry laughed loudly, “good morning!” he sung cheerfully.

Harry wasn’t a morning person and neither was Nick, which was why waking the other lad so early improved his mood greatly.

If he had to suffer through early mornings, then Nick did too.  
“How are you on this fine morning?” he teased.  
“I’m awake” Nick grumbled, and Harry heard the sound of clinking glass and boiling water, and he knew Nick was making coffee; he was just as much of a caffeine addict as Harry was.

“What do you want then?”  
“To tell you to bring your skates when you drive up”  
“Why?”  
“We’re going ice-skating”  
“Ice-skating?” Nick sounded suspicious.  
“Yeah, uh, with Louis and them”  
“You mean to tell me, I’m finally going to meet this Louis Tomlinson?” Nick perked up, “excellent!”

Well, that was ominous.

“No, not excellent. You’re going to behave Nick” Harry said, sternly.  
“Of course, of course” Nick said dismissively and Harry knew he’d completely overlooked what Harry’d just said.  
“Say, does Tomlinson know about that time you were so drunk, you hooked up with a guy because you thought he was him?”

Harry groaned loudly, face red.

By the time he got off the phone, having received a very unconvincing promise that Nick would not tell anyone, least of all Louis, that story, first period was already half finished, and he had a text from Niall, complaining about how much of a pain Louis was being because Harry wasn’t there, which Harry answered with a not at all apologetic ‘sorry’

‘Hope you’re having fun in maths’ he sent next, to Louis, still chuckling over Niall’s text.

He received what looked like an angry emoticon back and couldn’t help but laugh.

.  
.  
.

The rest of his day went by smoothly enough until history, his last lesson of the day.

The lesson had dragged by and Harry had spent most of it tapping his foot nervously on the ground and his pen on the table, receiving dirty glares from his teacher every few minutes.

Honestly, Harry didn’t know why that was so bad, at least he was still awake, unlike Jhonny, the boy on the far corner who was once again, dead to the world.

By the time the bell finally went, Harry was ready to spring out of the classroom. It was their last day before they broke out for the Easter holidays and Harry just wanted out of here.

Sadly, he wasn’t the only one itching to get out of school, so he was forced to walk behind his school mates who were in just as much of a hurry.

He groaned when number one – Stacy – he reminded himself slightly soured, stood by the door, obviously and purposefully blocking his way.

“What?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.  
“You” she said cryptically, and Harry tried very hard not to roll his eyes.  
“Yes…?”  
“What did you do exactly? Bribed him? Threatened him?”

Harry frowned at her, “what are you talking about?”  
“There must be a reason why Louis is with someone like you”  
“Someone like me?” Harry asked dumbly.  
“A loser” she shrugged, playing with her nails and looking like she’d just called him the worst of insults.  
“Right” he muttered, torn between annoyance and the urge to laugh.

He stepped forward trying to get past her.  
“You know everyone’s wondering” she said coyly, moving quickly to stop him from leaving, “why he’s with you” she continued, “I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not like it’s gonna last. He’ll ditch you soon enough” she smiled, pleased with herself.

“Finished?” he asked, and this time he was definitely annoyed, especially because what she’d said didn’t sound that farfetched.

She startled, looking confused as if she’d been expecting to see a much more disappointed and broken-hearted Harry.   
“Um”

He didn’t give her a chance to continue this time, temper getting the best of him as he took her by the waist and firmly moved her aside.

She squealed, face scrunching up in surprise.  
“Oh grow up” Harry snapped.

“Everything alright?”   
Harry jumped at the sight of Louis who seemed to have popped up from nowhere.

“Louis” both Harry and Stacy said, though Stacy’s voice sounded more like screeching.

Harry glared at her.

“What’s going on?” Louis asked suspiciously, arms crossed over his chest.

Harry wondered if Louis knew how hot he looked with his hair up in a messy quiff and a serious expression on his face, but then again, he was Louis Tomlinson, so he was probably very aware of the fact.

“We were just” Stacy started, and Harry caught the little glance she threw at him, “just chatting. Harry was just asking for my number, I hope you don’t mind?” she bit her lip in faux nervousness, whilst Harry whirled around to gape at her.  
Louis in turn, looked surprised, though only for a second. He blinked and the look was gone.

“Yeah, I mean, ‘s not like you guys are serious right?” she smiled sweetly, and Harry very much wanted to strangle her.

“On the contrary” Louis’ eyes went from Harry to Stacy, and Harry thought he saw Louis’ lips twitch, but if they did, he wouldn’t know for sure, “Harry and I are very serious”

Stacy blinked, composure slipping for a second, before she turned a disapproving eye on Harry, who was staring at her in disbelief. He didn’t understand; what in the world did she think she was going to achieve by doing this?

“I guess Harry shouldn’t go around asking for people’s numbers then”  
“You’re right” Louis agreed, reaching out for Harry, and Harry went easily, still a bit dazed, staring at the two of them with his mouth hung open.

Stacy blinked, mask slipping, and this time she didn’t recover.

“Did you know Stace, that Harry is gay?” Louis asked casually.  
“Um – “  
“So I don’t know why he’d be asking for your number but I’m sure it’s not for the reason you’re implying. Run along now” he waved his hand dismissively at a slack jawed Stacy, before turning to Harry.

“Hey babe”  
Harry blinked a couple of times, and then lunged toward Louis, fingers closing around the hair behind Louis’ ears, bringing him in to plant a very wet, very enthusiastic kiss on his lips.

If Stacy happened to see it, well that was just a bonus.

“What was that for?” Louis asked dazed, once they separated.  
“For not believing her” Harry told him, short of breath.

Louis grinned, “well the last time I thought you were interested in a girl, you laughed in my face”

Harry laughed at the memory before kissing Louis again, “there’s hope for you yet”

.  
.  
.

“Why?” Louis whined to the amusement of Niall who was tagging along with them as they walked out of school.  
“Because Lou, we’re officially on holiday and I want out of this place” Harry explained for the sixth time, exasperated.  
“It’s not even going to be a long practise, just one hour” Louis pleaded again, ignoring Niall’s snickers.  
“Sorry, can’t do, I’m going to the gym”  
“Since when do you go to the gym?” Niall asked him, amused.

With a shrug, Harry ignored Niall’s playful teasing, though he answered anyway, seeing Louis’ curious eyes on him, “a while. My mate Nick got me into it”  
“Isn’t that the one you went to see on the week-end?”  
Harry nodded, “yeah, uh, he’s coming tomorrow with us. That’s okay right?”

Niall answered with a ‘sure’, but Harry was really looking for Louis’ response.  
Louis shrugged, “whatever” seemingly in a sulking mood.  
“What’s up with you?” Harry asked, receiving another shrug in response.  
“Don’t worry about him mate” Niall said, swing an arm around Harry’s shoulder, “he’s just moody cause you’re not coming to practise”

Harry rolled his eyes, realising Niall was right.

Louis didn’t deny it, he just turned to glare at Niall, hissing “hands off Niall!”

Niall laughed.

.  
.  
.

By the time Harry arrived home, tired and sweaty, Nick was already there, chatting with his mum over a cup of coffee.  
“There you are Harold, I thought you’d forgotten about me”  
Harry grinned, “sorry your Highness, I was at the gym. Hi mum” he greeted his mum with a quick kiss to the cheek.  
“Hi honey” she smiled.  
“Hm, I can see that” Nick scrunched his nose in distaste, “you look yucky and you smell even worse. How dare you kiss darling Anne when you stink like that?”

His mum laughed and Harry rolled his eyes at the two, “alright, I can get a hint. ‘M gonna go shower”  
“Please do!” Nick called out as Harry walked up the stairs, chuckling away.

Louis called when he was out of the shower, so Harry plopped belly down on his bed with a pleased little sigh.  
“H’llo” he mumbled into the phone.  
“Hey baby, how was the gym?”  
“Alright” he grinned, “lots of attractive people to look at”  
Louis huffed, “hands off Curly. You’re taken”  
“Well, can’t I look?”  
“That depends. Can I?”

Harry grimaced at the idea, and conceded the point with a sigh, “no”

“How was practise then?” he changed the subject.  
“You’d know if you’d stayed to watch” Louis replied smartly.

Harry let out a little laugh through his nose, “you really don’t let things go do you? I promised I’d go to your game, why do I have to come to the practises too?” he whined into the phone.  
“Because Curly, I need my personal cheerleader there” Louis said matter-of-factly.

Harry huffed, “I’m not your cheerleader”   
“Cheerleader. Boyfriend. Same thing” Louis said dismissively.

Harry felt his heart tumble around for a couple of beats. Louis had never used the word boyfriend before, and it was strangely thrilling.

Harry cleared his throat, “well I guess” he agreed faintly.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been since they’d been talking when Nick walked into his room.

“What is taking so long Harold?” I know you were absolutely filthy but this is just – “

He stopped short at the sight of Harry laid down on his bed, feet swinging in the air, and phone by his ear.

“You’re not even dressed yet” he complained.  
“Who’s that?” Louis’ voice reached his ears, and there was something off about his tone.  
“That’s Nick” he explained quickly, “uh, give me a second yeah?” he lowered the phone from his ear.

“Is that Tomlinson?” Nick looked as delighted as he’d be if he’d just found of pot of gold with his name on it. Then again, his favourite hobby was embarrassing Harry so maybe this was even better.

“Uh oh” was all Harry had time to mutter before Nick threw himself on the bed next to him, bouncing around.

“Argh, get off Nick!”  
“No!” Nick protested reaching for the phone, “give me the phone Harold!”  
“No!” Harry clenched his fingers around the little black device, refusing to give up possession of it this time.  
“Gimme!”

They played a ferocious game of tug-war with the phone before Harry let go, startled at the sound of it ringing.

“Yes!” Nick rejoiced, scrambling up from the bed with Harry’s phone in hand.  
“Hello Tomlinson, this is Nick, did you know that Harry’s had a crush on –“

Harry lunged at him before Nick could finish the sentence and they toppled down to the ground, in between a lot of grunting and flailing.

He grinned when he finally won the phone back, “Lou?” he asked into it, slapping Nick’s chest when he grunted at having Harry’s elbows digging into his ribs.

“What the hell is going on Curly?”  
“Just Nick being a twat. Did I mention he’s coming tomorrow?”

Louis grunted.

“Sorry” Harry couldn’t help but apologise, after all he had just unleashed Nick Grimshaw on Louis.  
Louis ignored it, “I’ll come pick you up at 1pm okay?”  
“Yeah, yeah, okay”

He squeaked in surprise when Nick shoved him off.

“Ugh, I’ll talk to you later Lou, Nick’s being a pain in the ass”

He glared at the person in question, but Nick just grinned at him, smug.

“Can’t wait to meet him” Louis said sarcastically.

Harry winced, he wasn’t sure what he was dreading the most; Nick’s reaction to Louis or Louis’ reaction to Nick.


	7. Chapter 7

Because neither of them were morning people, it was already late by the time Nick and Harry had breakfast.

There was a note stuck to the fridge, telling him his mum was out but would probably be back by evening.

With Nick nagging him, Harry agreed to make them pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon before going up to have a shower and get ready.

Though the day was warm and lovely he put on his preferred skinny jeans and a thin long sleeved top, knowing that it’d be cold inside the ice rink.

He slid down the banister when he was ready, plopping down on the couch where Nick was stretched out and landing mercifully on his thighs.  
“You know Harold, you’re really not as light as you think you are” Nick told him, tone dry.

Harry sucked in a dramatic breath, “are you calling me fat?” he pouted.  
“You’re certainly not skinny”  
“Excuse-me!” Harry was mildly offended, and he frowned reproachfully at Nick.  
“What? Don’t think I don’t see those chubby bits on your hips Harold, I see them. You’ve been skipping the gym haven’t you?”  
“That’s just baby fat!” Harry’s hands flew to his sides, self-conscious. It wasn’t his fault that he was just barely seventeen and he still had a lot of puppy fat to shed.  
“You keep telling yourself that” Nick snorted.

Harry was just about to argue some more, when his phone rang, and he reached for his back pocket, still frowning unhappily at Nick.

“Do you think I’m fat?” he asked before Louis could even say hello.  
“Um, what?”  
“Do you think I’m fat?” he repeated.  
“Um” Louis stuttered, “I feel like this is a trick question”

Harry blinked, about to point out Louis’ evasion, when Louis distracted him with another question.

“You ready babe? I’m just leaving for yours now”  
“Yeah”  
“Got your skates?”

Harry’s eyes widened and he gasped out an ‘on shit’ before telling Louis he had to go.

He spent the ten minutes he had before Louis arrived, frantically searching for his skates. It’d been a while since he’d last gone to the ice-rink and he had no idea where they were. Obviously Nick was no help, the twat, Harry thought throwing a harried look at his friend who was still sat on the couch twiddling his thumbs, and looking very much like an evil-villain plotting evil-schemes to ruin the day.

He ended up finding them in one of the cupboards in the living room, just before he heard the sound of the doorbell.

His head snapped up from where he was crouched down and in his peripheral he saw Nick doing the same. They stared at each other before launching up and running to the door.

Harry cussed as he bumped on the corner of the couch, speeding up when he heard Nick’s voice.

“You must be Tomlinson then, I’m Nick Grimshaw, Harry’s /best/ mate”  
“I’m Louis. Harry’s /boyfriend/”

They sized each other up.

Flushed, Harry hurried to shove his way between the two.

“Hi Louis” he breathed out, letting out a surprised gasp when Louis pulled Harry into him, pressing their lips together for a bit longer than strictly necessary.

Harry pulled away flustered.

“Hi babe” Louis grinned at him.

There was the sound of a cough behind him and Harry saw Louis’ expression hardening.

He had obviously been wrong; this had all the potential to become a complete disaster.

“C’mon then, we still have to pick up Zayn and Niall”  
“Oh”

He stopped short at the sight of the huge, red Range Rover in front of them, and he whistled; eyes wide, “where did you get that?”

“You like it?” Louis smirked, whilst Harry nodded, slightly in love, “it was a present for making captain this year”

Harry gaped.

“Close your mouth Harold, or you’ll find out what bugs taste like” Nick said, getting in the car and slamming the door behind him.

Harry winced at the loud sound, catching the glare Louis was sending Nick’s way.

“What did you get the Porche for then?” he asked once Louis started the car, eager to break the tense atmosphere.   
“Getting my license”

Harry was just about to say ‘lucky’ when there was a very audible mutter of “spoiled much” from the backseat.

“Nick!”   
“What, it’s true isn’t it?” Nick asked unconcerned.

“How long have you known me?” Louis cut off their building argument.  
Nick paused before rolling his eyes, “I don’t know you from Eve mate”  
“Exactly, so shut the fuck up”

Nick’s lips snapped shut, surprised at the rebuttal, whilst Harry stared at Louis, honestly impressed. He didn’t know a lot (anyone really) who could do that. Harry himself had adopted the tactic of ignoring Nick when he was being like this until he got it out of his system.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure why Nick was behaving like this all of a sudden. He’d been fine with the idea of Louis before, but now that he’d actually met him, his impression of Louis didn’t seem to be a favourable one. Guilty, Harry thought he probably had a lot to do with that, he was the one always complaining about Louis to him after all.

Harry sighed.

Once they were parked in front of what Harry supposed was either Zayn’s or Niall’s house, Louis honked twice, two quick beeps in succession, before leaning forwards to switch on the radio.

From the back seat, Nick whined about the ‘awful music’ muttering under his breath like a chastened child that did-but-didn’t want his parents to hear, and just had to have the last word.

To Harry’s surprise Louis ignored him, leaning sideways to press a kiss on Harry’s lips. A very long, very showy kiss, and Harry almost rolled his eyes at Louis’ obvious intent, except he was too busy getting his mouth ravished.

He did roll his eyes when he saw the smug look Louis threw at Nick, who was scowling, but even Harry had to admit that Nick deserved that one.

“H’llo lads” Niall climbed in the car, Zayn right behind him, “who’s this?” he eyed the sulking Nick.  
“That’s my mate Nick” Harry twisted around to tell them, “Grimmy, that’s Niall and Zayn”  
“Y’alright mate?” Niall gave him a toothy smile, which only got him a grunt back and Nick turned to stare out the window.  
“Don’t mind him” Harry said, cheeks pink with embarrassment, “he just decided to be a little shit today” he emphasised the last few words, making sure Nick knew they were being directed at him.

The rest of the ride was made in silence, the air heavy with awkwardness, and Harry had to rein in the urge to turn around and shake Nick by the shoulders.

The others were already there when they arrived, standing in line outside the round roofed building.

There was a chorus of “Louis!” and “Tommo!” when they arrived, and Harry couldn’t help but roll his eyes, though he stopped the action quickly when he caught Nick doing the same.

To his surprise there was also a chorus of his name being cried out in excitement, as the girls rushed forwards to hug him. He’d become a bit of a favourite of theirs in the last few days, though he wasn’t sure why. He liked them too, even though there were times they could be every bit the typical ‘high school cheerleader’.

He hugged them all back, swiftly introducing them to Nick, happy that the larger amount of people around them helped to cover up the tension between the newly arrived group.

They all hurried inside in a bubble of excited chatter, Nick glued to his side.

The rink wasn't too full even though it was the week-end. The day was too nice and sunny and most people were spending their time outside. Harry himself wondered what they were doing inside on a day like this.

'Every one ready?' Louis shouted at the others before jumping on the ice. Harry was surprised at how fast he was.

He waited for the gaggle of boys (and girls) to get on before he himself stepped on the shiny white floor. He started a bit unsure; he was a good enough ice skater but it had been while, and the first few minutes always felt a bit shaky, no matter how long it'd been.

'Need help Harold?' Nick asked, next to him.  
"'M fine" he started gliding, slowly at first, Nick following behind, hand holding on to his shoulder.

"Let go Nick" Harry shook off his hold.  
"What are you mad at me for? You're boyfriend is the arsehole"  
Harry glared at him, "that's because you were being a little shit"  
"Harry!"   
"It’s true" Harry muttered.  
“He deserves it, and I’m just looking out for you”

Harry scoffed and spent the next hour with Nick by his side, muttering away about everything that was wrong with Louis.

“I don’t see what you see in him. He’s obviously not a very good boyfriend” Nick sneered, “he hasn’t even spent a minute with you since we got here”

Harry pursed his lips, annoyed to no end that he couldn’t exactly argue with that, after all Louis had pretty much forgotten about him since they arrived, distracted by his rowdy friends.

He was only grateful that this time Louis hadn’t ditched him to go flirt with someone.

Harry clenched his teeth, it was only because they’d been friend for years that Harry was still putting up with Nick.

He waved distractedly at Perrie, Danielle and Jade as they skated past, arms hooked together, sending them a strained smile before focusing back on Nick.

“What is wrong with you Nick?” Harry hissed at him, “why are you being like this?”  
“I’m trying to look out for you – ”  
“Oh don’t give me that. You decided as soon as you saw Louis that you didn’t like him and now you’re being an arse”

“Haz!” 

Harry looked up when he heard his name being called, seeing a flash of blonde hair.

Perrie was waving her hand over her head, bouncing back and forth on her blades.

For the first time in over an hour the frown left his face and he gave her a small smile before starting in her direction, leaving Nick behind.

“Hey Per, what’s up?” he stopped in front of the girl and she looked over his shoulder, back at who he assumed was Nick.

Bluntly, she asked, “are you alright?”

Harry smiled at the look of genuine concern on her face.  
“I’m alright. Nick’s just being…Nick”  
“Introducing the boyfriend to the best friend didn’t go too well then?”

She hooked their arms together and they started skating around slowly.

“No. I don’t know what happened. It’s like Nick took a look at Louis and decided he was going to do everything to piss him off”

“Well, he’s succeeding. You should’ve seen the glares Tommo was throwing at him”  
Harry sighed, “I can’t even blame him”  
“Yeah, no offence Haz, but your friend is kind of a twat”

Harry chuckled, agreeing.

“And talking about twats…you’ll not believe who just asked me for the spring dance”

The Spring Dance was a tradition at their school. It was a way they’d come up to include the younger years in the end of school activities, since they weren’t allowed at Prom, which was for seniors only.

Harry looked at her curiously, “who?”  
“Zayn” she grimaced, “it’s not like I wouldn’t have said yes, it’s just he was a complete idiot about it. He didn’t even ask me, he just assumed I’d be like - ”  
“More than happy and honoured that he asked you?” Harry finished for her.

She looked at him surprised, “how d’you know?”  
Harry huffed out a laugh, raising an expectant eyebrow, and Perrie rolled her eyes in understanding, “honestly I don’t know who’s worse”

They eyed the two boys on the on the opposite side of the rink; they were standing by the rail, heads bent together, intense looks on their faces and wholly unbothered by the fact that there were people waiting for them to get out of the way.

Harry sighed unhappily.

“What was that sigh for?” Perrie asked astutely.   
“’S just” he gave a half shrug.  
“Louis” she guessed.

Harry nodded, “he’s just so confusing, sometimes he won’t let go of me, and then other times, he just completely ignores me”

Perrie gave him a sympathetic glance, “I’m sure if you go up to him he’ll leech on to you again” she smiled, nudging his side.

Feeling hesitant, Harry bit his lip, looking at Louis and then back at Perrie who was giving him a reassuring look. 

“Okay” Harry agreed.

For some reason the idea of just going up to Louis seemed nerve-wrecking. Even more now than when he’d sought out the boy just to reject him, because going up to Louis now, meant admitting that he wanted his attention, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for that.

Half way there, he caught Louis’ eye; and half way there Nick interrupted him, showing up in front of Harry and blocking his view of Louis.

“What Nick?” he asked, torn between annoyance and relief.  
“I’m here to apologise. I still think I’m right and Mr Popular over there will end up dumping your pretty little ass sooner rather than later, but if you want to stay with him anyway - ”

“That’s a great apology Nick. Really” his sarcasm was hard to miss, and Harry fumed when he realised he’d lost sight of Louis.

This described Nick to a ‘T’ however. Blunt, and painfully honest. He wasn’t one to restraint his thoughts even when he knew that his words were hurtful.

Harry glared at him.

“Curly” Harry startled at the arms going around his waist from behind, “everything okay?”  
“Fine” Nick answered before he could, “we’re talking though, so if you could” he moved his hand sin a way that said ‘go away’.  
“You’ve been talking since we got here” Louis snapped, arms tightening around Harry.  
“So?” Nick asked unconcerned.  
“So” Louis started, and he sounded angry now, “Harry’s my boyfriend and I asked him to come out with me because I want to spend time with him”

Nick snorted, “it sure looks like it”

Harry sucked in a breath at the dig, both mad and grateful that Nick had brought it up, feeling Louis’ fingers clenching over his hips.

“What the hell is your problem mate?”  
“Guys? What’s going on?” Liam showed up, followed quickly by Stan and Zayn.

Nick let out a dry chuckle, “nothing. Look Harry I’m going. Are you coming or are you staying?”

Harry gaped at him, ridiculously mad that Nick was putting him in this situation.

He felt Louis stiffening behind him.

“I’m, uh”  
“Curly?” Louis’ voice was soft in his ear, soft and hesitant, and it was that that made the decision for Harry.

“Go ahead Nick, I’ll see you at home”

Nick huffed, “fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s gonna happen, don’t fool yourself”

Harry recoiled, both angry and hurt at the reminder.

“We’ll talk later” he said through pursed lips.  
“Fine” and he was out of his sight a few seconds later.

Louis, who was plastered to his back relaxed once Nick was out of sight and in response Harry did too, slumping tiredly against Louis.

“Everything okay?” Liam checked and Louis nodded giving a little jerk of the head that got them to clear out.

“C’mon Curly” Louis reached for his hand and started pulling him along slowly, “You okay?”  
“Yeah, yeah” he tightened his fingers around Louis’, “I’m sorry about that”  
“What was he talking about? When he said he warned you?”  
“Oh. He thinks that you’re just, you know. That this is not gonna last very long”  
“This?”  
“You know, us” he blushed unexplainably at the word ‘us’.

Louis’ face darkened, “let me guess. He thinks I’ll dump you for the next one in line soon enough”

Harry coughed awkwardly, “uh, yeah”  
“Your friend’s an idiot. C’mon lets get out of here”  
“What? Louis!” Confused, he let himself be pulled along.

When they were free of their skates, Louis put his arm around Harry’s waist (Harry noticed he had stopped putting his arm over Harry’s shoulder) and the thought was enough to put a smile back on his face.

He threw both of their bags on the backseat, and it was only then that Harry remembered.  
“Hold on, what about Niall and Zayn?”

Louis shrugged unconcerned, “they can get another ride. Let’s go get smoothies” he grinned.

Harry laughed, surprised, “smoothies”  
“Yes, Curly, keep up. It’s boiling hot today and I want a smoothie”   
“Are you kidding? It was freezing in there” he argued, though now that Louis had mentioned it, Harry noticed the dark flush on Louis’ cheeks and the slightly damp hair over his forehead.  
“You were cold because you were going so slow, a snail could’ve beat you”  
“Hey! How do you know how I was skating anyway? You didn’t even spend any time with me!”

He tried to keep the bitter tone out of his voice, but he though he failed when he saw a smirk growing in the corner of the older boy’s lips, “is that whining I hear?” Louis asked, both amused and smug.  
“No” Harry huffed, “just stating a fact”  
“Uh huh” it was obvious he didn’t believe him, “and I didn’t spend any time with you because that Nick” he grimaced as if the name left a sour taste in his mouth, “was stuck to your side the whole time and I didn’t want to end up punching your best mate so soon after we got together. You know, just in case” he grinned mischievously, as if he hadn’t completely ruled out that idea just yet.

Harry gulped nervously, giddy butterflies flapping around his stomach. He felt bad that all he could feel at that moment was pleased at Louis’ restraint. Was this Louis being considerate?

“I was watching you anyway” Louis continued, jus as he parked in front of Nicole’s.

Harry couldn’t help but snort at the ironic name.

“C’mere” Louis said, pulling Harry in. Harry went easily, happily parting his lips to let Louis kiss him as he pleased.

Humming, Louis nipped at his top lip, “you have a really indecent mouth, did you know that?” Louis murmured, lips still touching, and this time it was Harry’s turn to smirk.  
“I’ve been told”

Louis pulled away abruptly, “by who?”  
Harry laughed, rolling his eyes, “come on Tommo, you owe me a smoothie”

When they went in, sides bumping against each others and Louis’ arm around him, they asked for their smoothies, strawberry for Louis, mango for Harry, and Harry didn’t bother to be subtle about pressing closer to Louis when the girl behind the counter smiled too flirtatiously at Louis.

They found themselves seats outside and spent the next two hours in the sunshine, sipping their drinks, and then moving on to ice-creams, which Louis insisted they had to share, and though Harry wasn’t a big fan of public displays of affection, he forgot all about it every time Louis leaned in to kiss him, lips cold and sweet.

It was only when the temperature started dropping that they moved from their places and Harry told himself he was only a little disappointed when Louis got him back home.

Another half an hour later, when Harry finally managed to separate himself from Louis, he entered the house, a heavy feeling setting in his stomach.

“Nick?” he called out.

Nick’s response came from the living room, so he kicked his shoes off and set off towards it.

“Hey” he greeted.  
Nick took a look at him before rolling his eyes, “a bit flashy, isn’t it?”  
“What?”  
“That hickey the size of France that’s on your neck, for starters”

Harry flushed, making a mental note to have a look at it later.

“Nick” he pushed through it, determined that they’d talk about this.  
“Oh save the lecture Harold. I know what you’re gonna say”  
Harry sighed, “what’s your problem with Louis exactly?”  
“He’s not right for you”  
“Oh for god’s sake” Harry bristled, “you don’t even know him!”  
“I know enough of him. And it came from you. What happened to the Harry that hated how much of a brat Louis was, how arrogant he is?”  
“I still do” Harry mumbled.  
“Then why are you with him?”  
“Because that’s not all there is to him!”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Harry’s heart beating a mile per minute.

To his surprise, Nick was the one who backed down.  
“If you say so” he didn’t sound convinced in the slightest, but he seemed ready to drop the subject, so Harry let it go, plopping down on the couch to sit next to him.

It wasn’t often that they argued, mostly because Harry always gave way to him not wanting to get into fights over things he didn’t care that much about, but this time, it was different. This was Louis, and Harry thought that in some level Nick knew that it’d be futile to argue over this, because he’d never have backed down otherwise.

They went back to normal after that, though they both made sure not to mention Louis’ name.

If Harry caught all the dark glances Nick sent him whenever Harry would take out his phone to answer one of Louis’ texts, he didn’t say anything, and neither did Nick.

.  
.  
.

It was early on Monday morning when Louis called him. Harry answered it with a groggy “hello”, wondering why his boyfriend had to be such a morning person.

Louis prattled on for a few minutes, whilst Harry fought off his sleepy haze.

“Babe, what exactly did you want?” he slurred, cutting off Louis’ monologue of how he’d kicked the boy’s arses on Fifa the day before.

There was a pause.

“Did you just call me babe?” Louis’ tone was shrewd, and Harry’s eyes snapped wide open.  
“Argh, that doesn’t count. I’m still half asleep here” he groaned, fingers pushing through his matted hair.  
“A lot of things don’t count with you Curly”  
Harry nodded along, forgetting that Louis couldn’t see him.  
“I hope you know I just ignore you when you say that”

Harry groaned again, though a smile still found it’s way on to his lips when he heard the sound of Louis laughing.

.  
.  
.

Though their town was a small one, parks was one of the things they didn’t lack, and it was on one of those that Harry went to meet Louis (Louis plus gang, that was).

Louis had as usual, offered him a ride, but because Harry had things to do (namely go job hunting), he turned it down, saying he’d meet him there later on in the day.

He was licking happily on an ice-cream when he arrived, bag lighter now that all his CVs had been handed out.

Louis didn’t see him when he arrived, too engrossed with kicking a ball around with the boys, so still licking away at his vanilla ice-cream, Harry went to sit down with the girls.

Perrie, Danielle, Jade and Sara were sprawled on the grass, colourful beach towels stretched under them.  
“Hi guys” he greeted them, carefully lowering himself to the floor, mindful of his quickly crumbling ice-cream.  
“Haz”  
“Hi Harry” came from them.  
“I didn’t know you were coming Harry” Jade smiled across from him.  
Sara snickered, “trust me; we’d know if Harry wasn’t coming. Louis would make sure of that.”  
“Yeah Harry, you have to stop having other things to do. Whenever we go out and you’re not with us, we’re stuck with a really annoying, whiny Louis. That’s just not nice” Jade reprimanded him; lips twitching.  
“Oh yes, I’m sorry for having a life, I’ll try to stop with that non-sense yeah?”

They laughed at his sarcasm, while Perrie gave him a teasing look, “someone’s been spending way too much time with a certain Tommo, you’ve gone all witty and sassy now”

Harry made a sound of indignation.

“How was your date yesterday by the way?”  
“That wasn’t a date” Harry said taking a bite of his cone.  
“Of course it was!” Jade disagreed, seeming upset that Harry didn’t think so.  
“Nuh uh” Harry shook his head.  
“Honestly honey, you don’t know a lot about dating, do you?” Danielle asked, voice both sweet and condescending, “did you go out together?”  
“Yeah”  
“Just the two of you?”  
“Yeah, but”  
“Did he pay for everything?”  
“How did you even know - ?”  
“Was there kissing involved?”

Harry flushed.

“If that blush doesn’t answer it, then that really painful looking hickey on your neck does”

They laughed at the look of his face as Harry slapped a hand over his neck, which his polo shirt did nothing to hide, (and maybe he wasn’t really trying very hard to hide it, but nobody had to know that).

He’d had a look at it on the mirror on Saturday, and Nick had been right, the thing was pretty hard to miss. He’d felt torn between smiling a dopey smile and frowning indignantly at the mirror, and he’d looked more than a little odd with unsure eyebrows and twitching lips.

He was inexplicably happy; a thrum of satisfaction curling up in his stomach when instead of fading the bruise just went darker.

Back to the present, he pouted at the four of them, raising up his voice to call Louis.

He saw the boy’s head snap up in his direction, a smile lighting up his face as he promptly abandoned the football behind, and sprinted towards Harry.

“Babe” Louis said breathlessly, kissing him right on the mouth, “when did you get here?”  
“A while ago. Your cheerleaders are making fun of me” he told Louis, pouting his lips for good measure, Sara groaning next to him, and Jade giggling away, hand raised up to cover her mouth.

“Why are you making fun of my Curly?” he asked immediately, curling a protective arm around Harry.

Unseen by Louis, Harry put his tongue out at them, fighting hard not to follow Jade’s example and burst out into giggles.

Sara groaned again, “you two are killing me. Go away”  
“Don’t you lie to me Wright. I know you think we’re the cutest thing ever” Louis answered back.  
“Yes,” she agreed, “and it’s your cuteness that’s killing me”  
“You can leave if it bothers you” Louis said, smirking when the girl only flopped back down on the grass.  
“Lou, don’t be rude” Harry mumbled into his neck.

Louis sighed, “fine, fine, sorry” he apologised, reluctantly, but it had Sara’s eyebrow arching up, throwing Harry a disbelieving look. Louis ignored it, “you wanna come play with us?”  
Harry scoffed, “footy? No thanks, I’d rather save myself the embarrassment”  
“You can’t be that bad”  
“He is” Jade, who was also in his gym class, interjected.

Harry glared at her without any heat, she was just lucky that Coach Carter had a soft spot for her, because she always got her and the rest of the girls out of whatever the lesson plan was.

“Shut up Jade” Louis snapped, giving her a look that said ‘you’re not helping’.

Jade shrugged, unapologetic.

“C’mon Curly, you can be on my team, and I’ll help you yeah?”  
“How about I just cheer you on from here?” Harry tried.

Louis thought that over, but at the end he just seemed too eager to get back to the game (and show off to Harry, no doubt) to argue any further.  
“Deal”

With one last kiss, he ran back into the middle of the game as if he’d never left, scoring a goal less than two minutes later and looking over at Harry, smirk on his lips and an expectant look in his eyes.

Harry sighed.

“Yay, go Louis” he weakly pumped his fist in the air; blushing at the beam on Louis’ face and their friends’ laughter.

.  
.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read over this, and I honestly don't like it at all, but there you have it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late, late, late. Mah apologies.

“Can I come in?” Louis asked once they were parked in front of his house.

Harry shook his head with a smile.

“Why not?” Louis whined.  
“Well.. basically because you desperately need to go home and have a shower”

Louis swore, making Harry chuckle in amusement.

“Can I come over another time then?” Louis insisted.  
“Sure, when you’re not all sweaty and stinky” Harry wrinkled his nose in demonstration and threw his head back in a laugh at the offended look on Louis’ face.  
“I look hot sweaty” he argued.  
“Sure you do” Harry condescendingly patted him on the back.

“Tomorrow then?”  
“Tomorrow what?”  
“Can I come over tomorrow?” Louis went back to their previous subject.  
Harry smiled, “sure. Aren’t you going out with the boys tomorrow though?”

Louis shrugged unconcerned, leaning in to kiss him.

“Tomorrow then” he murmured against Harry’s lips.  
“Hmm, are you sure they can survive without you for a whole day?” Harry teased, nipping Louis’ bottom lip.  
“They’ll manage” Louis breathed, too preoccupied to even remember being cocky.

Harry told himself he’d have to remember this in the future.

.  
.  
.

He was still asleep when the doorbell went the next day. The noise travelled, echoing loudly throughout the house, and Harry groaned into his pillow.

He dragged his feet down the stairs, head fuzzy, rattled at the painful sound of the doorbell ringing again and again.

It was Louis of course. No one else could be this obnoxious.  
“Curly” Louis grinned, pushing past him and into the hallway.  
“Louis” Harry rubbed at his eyes, “what are you doing here?”  
“You invited me” Louis answered promptly, eyes raking around the living room, and Harry suddenly realised the only part of his house Louis had ever seen was the kitchen.

“What? Lou whatimesit?”   
“10:12”  
“Why’ryou – Lou!”  
“What?” the boy leaned forward to look at the picture of a young Harry; Gemma next to him, and a fat cat in her arms, little Harry’s hand buried in the cat’s fur.

“Cute little Curly” Louis cooed at the picture.

Harry blushed.

“Lou, it’s really early” he said more eloquently this time.

Couldn’t Louis understand the concept that some people were not morning people?

“Non-sense, it’s nearly 10:30!”

Harry sighed and gave up, some things just couldn’t get through Louis’ thick head.

“Fine, just, stay here yeah?”

He started towards the stairs, suddenly aware that he was still in his pyjamas, that his hair was a ruffled mess, and that he hadn’t brushed his teeth or washed his face yet.

“Where are you going?” Louis was suddenly alert, standing up straight and reaching for Harry’s wrist, “you haven’t given me a good morning kiss yet” he complained.  
“I haven’t brushed my teeth yet”  
“Don’t care” Louis crowded into him, lips pressing against Harry’s softly, though thankfully, he kept it close-lipped.

Harry pulled back, cheeks pink, smile giddy.

“Mm” Louis pulled him closer, tucking Harry’s face into his shoulder. Louis smelled good, shampoo, deodorant and after shave mixing together sweetly and it made Harry self-conscious.  
“Lou” Harry grumbled into his shoulder, “gotta go”

Louis tightened his arms around him.

“Louis, let me go. I have to go tame my hair”  
“Your hair looks gorgeous” he buried his hands into Harry’s hair, scratching at his scalp.

Harry let out a contented sound, eyes fluttering close.

“My baby Haz” Louis cooed, smile teasing.  
Harry gave him a sleepy glare, “shut up”  
Louis grinned, “okay then. Take me to your love chamber!” he said dramatically.  
Harry rolled his eyes, “fine, no poking around though”

Louis raised his arms to show his supposed innocence.

“You offend me Curly, I’ve manners”

Harry rolled his eyes again, lips stretched wide, “right, come on then” he lead them into his bedroom, and left Louis there to go to the bathroom.

When he came back, Louis was prancing around the room. Like a curious child, he touched everything he saw, taking things from Harry’s shelves without bothering to put them back as they were.

Harry snorted. Manners, yeah right.

With a sigh, Harry fell face first into his unmade bed, “it’s way too early for me to be putting up with you” he grumbled into his sheets.  
“Please” Louis scoffed, “you love having me here, admit it”

Maybe, but he wasn’t admitting that, so in response he stuck his tongue out at him.

Louis gasped dramatically, “where are your manners Curly? How am I supposed to take you to meet my parents, when you’re like this?”

Harry surged up so he was sitting upright, smile vanishing and transforming into a shocked expression.  
“What?”  
“My parents Curly” Louis said impatiently, “I’m taking you to meet them”  
Harry gaped, “today?!”  
“Tonight. They’ve been pestering me about it” Louis rolled his eyes, annoyance flashing in them, “it’s quite stupid really. They’re behaving as if I’ve never been with someone in my life”  
“You haven’t though” Harry said quietly, quickly making his bed so he could sit on top of it.  
“What was that?”  
Harry sat down, facing Louis, “you haven’t really been with someone before” he repeated.  
Louis looked at him shocked, “don’t be ridiculous Curly. I’ve been with plenty of - ”

He cut himself off, taking a hesitant glance at Harry, as if he expected to be scolded at any moment. 

Harry grimaced at him, but otherwise let it go. Louis’ many flings were just a fact of life.

“I didn’t mean it like that” he explained patiently, “I meant, you’ve never really dated someone before, have you?”  
“Well, I,” Louis seemed disconcerted, “I guess not, but still, they’re being ridiculous”  
Harry shrugged, “maybe”  
“Yes, well then. Tonight!” he went back to the topic in hand, “you can come over for diner and meet the whole family”  
“How many sisters did you say you had again?” Harry dreaded the answer.

Louis smirked as if he knew exactly what Harry was thinking, “four”  
“Great” Harry said faintly.

Why exactly had he agreed to this? He’d been fine before, being by himself most of the time, or driving up over to Gemma’s and Nick’s if he wanted company; he’d been more than happy with the occasional hook-up and absolutely ecstatic for knowing that he’d probably never see that person again.

This relationship idea was stupid. Stupid and stressful and flapping-monster-butterflies inducing. And now, to top it all off, it wasn’t enough that Harry had to fight with his best friend, hear the whole school gossiping about him, and put up with the gaggle of people that came along with Louis. Now he had to meet his family as well.

Great.

“Don’t worry” Louis told him, “your mum loved me. Why wouldn’t my family love you?”  
“That’s – that’s different” Harry argued.  
“Well, I am way more handsome and charming, yes. But you have the whole adorable thing going on for you”

It was only because Harry was still too anxious that he didn’t glare at Louis, but he was difficult in nature, and that wasn’t about to change soon.  
“If that’s your way of cheering me up, stop it, cause you’re rubbish at it”  
“I’m not bad at anything, don’t be so dramatic babe”

This time, Harry did glare at him.

“Oh, I’m the dramatic one. That’s funny”

Louis wiggled his eyebrows, “I know of a way to distract you…”  
Harry scoffed, “I highly doubt that’d work”  
“Are you doubting my kissing prowess?”  
Harry laughed, “maybe”  
“Cheeky sod” Louis shook his head.

They spent the rest of the day together talking (arguing), eating (arguing), and watching the telly (arguing).

Louis pestered him until Harry had made both breakfast and late lunch for the two of them, and Harry had caved easily, he wasn’t too proud to say.

He’d like to say he had spent a lazy day stretched out on the couch, watching his favourite tv programs, but in reality, he’d spent all day being kissed and hugged and cuddled by Louis who’d prodded and poked at him until they were both laid out on the couch, Harry half draped on top of Louis.

All in all, it was a pretty good way to spend the day.

Harry especially liked having Louis’ arm curled around his waist, hand petting at his stomach under his t-shirt.

They were still in that position when his mum got home, Harry pressed back against Louis, Louis’ hand on his belly and their eyes fixed on the tv.

“Hi H, hey Louis”

Harry’s gaze snapped up to see his mum standing by the door, smiling brightly at the two of them.

“Mum! Um” he squirmed around trying to sit up, though he met the resistance of Louis’ fingers when he tried to get up altogether. 

“Hey Anne, how was work?” Louis asked as he manoeuvred them until they were sitting side by side, Louis’ thigh hooked over his own.

Anne groaned, though that wasn’t enough to hide the happy smile on her face.

“The week is just too long honey” She answered, “I’m going out for a bite with a few friends H, you’ll be okay?”

Harry nodded, feeling Louis’ arm going around his shoulders as the blue-eyed boy stated, smirk ever-present, “I’m taking him over to my place. My parents want to meet him”  
“Oh?” she threw Harry a smug look that had him biting the inside of his cheek.  
“Um, yeah”  
“Well, good luck then. I’ll see you later” she grinned mischievously at them before vanishing up the stairs.  
“You know” Louis smiled crookedly, “I think I’m a little in love with your mum”

Harry gave him a disgruntled look and pushed him off the couch and into the floor, turning his nose up at the loud sound of Louis’ laughter.

.  
.  
.

A little while later when Harry finally deemed himself presentable (and he had to put up with Louis’ snickering for nearly an hour) they left the house to go to diner at Louis’.

Harry was expecting a big, beautiful house and that’s exactly what he got. What he wasn’t expecting was to see pink bikes left laying on the wide front garden, or to see toys scattered around the place.

He wasn’t expecting to see a place so full of warmth and so lived in. He wasn’t expecting a home. Supposedly that’s what he got for being so presumptuous. 

Harry walked in behind Louis, half hiding and half looking around curiously. He looked at all the pictures on the walls smiling at the wide grins and happy faces he saw.

Feeling Louis tug on his wrist, he stumbled into the large kitchen where he was faced with a woman who looked remarkably like Louis.

“Hi mum” Louis gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek before pulling Harry forward for her appraisal, “this is Harry. Curly this is my mum”

For a second, Harry squirmed nervously under her stare, but then her face softened in a smile, and Harry let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Hello Harry” she hugged him, “you can call me Jay, I’ve heard a lot about you” she smiled.

“You have?” surprised, Harry looked at Louis to find the goy grinning.  
“You’re even cuter than Louis told me”

Louis laughed, and he almost seemed proud. His arms snaked around Harry’s waist and the pink tint on Harry’s cheeks flared up to a painfully obvious red.  
“Thanks” he muttered, smiling sheepishly.  
“Why don’t you go show Harry around honey? Diner will be ready soon”

Louis nodded and tugged him out of the pristine kitchen.

Louis showed him around the house briefly, large spotless rooms(though Harry did spy a few glittery, pink things here and there) that Harry could hardly find a use for.

He seemed to be in a hurry however, and by the time they got to the upper floor, he only pointed at doors, saying, “office, bathroom, Fizzy’s room” until they finally arrived at Louis’ room.

He pulled Harry into the room eagerly, and Harry hardly had time to look around before Louis’ lips were on his.

He yelped in surprise before reciprocating, hands flying up to hold onto his shoulders.

“Louis” he groaned into the boy’s mouth, shivering at the feeling of his hands slowly sliding down his back, until they were resting on his arse.

Fingers clenching, nails digging into the skin of Louis’ shoulders, he pressed himself closer.

“Louis” he tried again, though Louis’ lips were on his. He pulled away with a struggle, leaning backwards until Louis let him go.

Harry licked his lips, eyes catching on Louis’ biceps where the muscles strained in order to support his weight. 

“Lou, what got into you?” he panted into the boy’s mouth.

Louis shrugged, leaning in to kiss his neck, the place just under his earlobe that had his skin erupting with goose-bumps.

Harry groaned, the boy’s name on his lips as Louis sucked a bruise into his skin that had him tilting his head to the side in offering.

“Lou, stop it” Harry breathed out, aware that they had to stop, but not wanting to be the one to pull away.

The older boy grumbled in disagreement, only pulling away a few minutes later when there was a knock at the door, and a young girl’s voice saying diner was ready.

Louis stared at him for another two seconds before his hands regretfully fell away from their perch on Harry’s bum, and he turned away to yank the door open to find a small blonde girl on the other side.

“Thanks Pheebs” Louis said before crouching down to whisper something to the girl.

Phoebe grinned, pulling away from her brother to launch herself at Harry’s middle.

Harry let out a surprised ‘ooph’ looking up at Louis for reassurance before returning the hug.

“Hi Harry!” she grinned up at him, one of her bottom teeth was missing, but it only made her cuter, “you’re Louis’ new boyfriend right?”  
“Erm” Harry stammered.  
“Yep” Louis answered for them, “that’s him”

Phoebe looked up at him again, eyes squinting, and Harry offered her his best smile.

“I like him” she announced, “you’ve dimples”

Harry laughed awkwardly, hand scratching the back of his neck, “uh yeah I do. Do you like them?”  
She nodded happily before tugging at his shirt, “come on, I have to show you to Daisy! She’ll like your dimples too, I think”  
“Oi! Louis called from behind them, “boyfriend thief” he accused the girl who giggled.  
“Sorry Lou” she apologised, letting go of Harry, “you’ll introduce him to Daisy though?”  
“Course I will, he’s staying for diner isn’t he?” he ruffled her hair, but she only grumbled half-heartedly at Louis for it.

“Is he?”  
Louis nodded, taking Harry’s hand in his, “c’mon, they must be waiting for us”  
Phoebe walked in front of them, leading them to what Harry now knew from his previous tour was the dining room.

The mere idea of a dining room sounded odd to Harry. Fancy. But he though it made sense; after all there were six people living with Louis, instead of just two (occasionally three) like it was in Harry’s own home.

When they arrived there, everyone else was seated and talking animatedly to each other.

“This is Harry everyone” Louis said to the room in large, and Harry saw their attention shifting to him, eyes making their way down, until blushing Harry realised they were looking at their joined hands.

“So you mean you were serious when you said you had a boyfriend?” the eldest girl said, she was sitting next to Jay, and had a shocked look on her face.

“Lottie” the man, obviously Louis’ father Mark, reprimanded her, and Harry watched as a blush rose on her cheeks, before turning back to Mark who was sending him a welcoming smile.  
“Hi Harry, it’s good to finally meet you”  
“Um, you too” he smiled winningly.

Vanessa, one of Gemma’s friends had once told him he had a charming smile, and he’d been using it to his advantage ever since.

He heard giggling coming from the two youngest, twins, he realised, and he grinned at the two of them as they introduced themselves as well as Lottie and Fizz.

“Hi” he greeted them all, smiling as Louis pulled out a chair for him so he was sat next to Lottie, while Louis sat down to his right at the head of the table and opposite his father who was situated at the other end.

The rest of diner didn’t go as terribly as Harry had been expecting; he spent it with his ankle hooked around Louis’, the twins fighting for his attention in front of him and Lottie blushing and smiling shyly throughout the whole meal.

Mark, Louis’ father, was pleasant and he seemed to have a very good handle of all the kids. 

Jay on the other had, reminded him of his own mum; throwing them knowing glances and making cheeky comments that got Louis flushed with embarrassment.

“That wasn’t so bad” Harry commented once they escaped out to the garden.

The space was ample, the grass stretching out in front of them, small lights scattered strategically around the place. There was a big tree at the end of it, a tree house sat on it’s thick branches and a playground next to it. To his left there was a large pool glimmering blue due to the internal lights.

From behind him, where Louis had perched himself on a higher step, Louis grunted, obviously disagreeing.

Harry sighed contentedly as Louis wrapped his arms around him from behind, and he leant back against him, relaxed.

“They like you” Harry felt Louis drop a kiss on his shoulder.  
Harry preened, smiling at the ground, “yeah”  
“Mm.. mum especially, though Lottie was a close second”  
Harry grinned sheepishly, “yeah, that”

Louis laughed, “you should stay over”  
Harry snorted with laughter, “yeah, right”

Instead of a kiss, this time Louis bit him in retaliation, “I’m serious. Mum won’t mind, we have about a dozen guest rooms”

Harry didn’t find that hard to believe.

“Oh? And I’d be staying in one of those guest rooms, is that right?”  
“If you wanted” Louis shrugged, “my bed is way more comfortable though”  
Harry smiled in amusement.  
“I’m quite partial to my own bed thanks”  
“Or I could come over to stay with you!” Louis offered quickly.

Harry laughed, nudging Louis’ shoulder with his nose, “you’re so pushy!”

Louis grinned, undeterred.  
“Say yes”  
“No”  
“Say yes”  
“Louis” Harry chuckled.  
“Say yes”  
“Lou! Oh my god”

Louis kissed his neck, grinning smugly like he knew what the outcome of this would be. 

Twat.

“Say yes Curly”  
Harry huffed, twisting around so he could face Louis. Before he could say no again, he had lips on his and a familiar hand in his hair.

“Yes” Louis coached into the corner of his mouth.  
“Yes” Harry sighed defeated, “you’re impossible”  
“You love it”

Harry rolled his eyes, “you better take me home then”, he quickly went on, cutting off the beginning of Louis’ protest.  
“I need to get my stuff, don’t I?”

Louis grinned, jumping up quickly and offering his hand to Harry.  
“How chivalrous” Harry noted.  
“I don’t understand the tone of surprise. I’m a gentleman Curly, haven’t I told you that?”

Harry slapped his shoulder weakly, shaking his head at the boy. Absolutely impossible.

.  
.  
.

Anne wasn’t back home yet when Harry and Louis got back, and Harry vaguely wondered if she’d been going out with more than just ‘a few friends’.

Regardless, he didn’t want to interrupt her, so instead of calling or texting to explain where he’d be, he chose to stick a post-it note on her bedroom door so there was no way she’d miss it.

He shoved a few clothes inside a backpack and made sure to remember his toothbrush.

“Can you get my charger for me?” he asked from the other side of the room.  
“You don’t need it, you can just use mine”  
Harry smiled, “okay then, I’m ready. Shall we?”

Louis nodded, “I should warn you, the girls will have you awake before 8AM”

Harry groaned, shrugging in acceptance a minute later, “it’s lucky they’re cute”  
“They get it from me” Louis smiled smugly over at him as Harry buckled his seatbelt, and Harry looked up to make sure Louis could see him rolling his eyes at him, startling when Louis leaned in to kiss the tip of his nose.

Wide eyed, Harry stared at him.

Louis grinned mischievously, though Harry was sure there was a blush on the apple of his cheeks.

“You love it” he said again, and Harry found that he couldn’t argue with that.

.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this is a bit late...

“Maybe we should’ve asked your parents before” Harry whispered to Louis as he led him inside by the hand.

The house was a lot quieter now, but Harry could still hear the low humming of a tv coming from the living room (or lounge as Louis had called it).

“Don’t be silly, dad doesn’t mind, and mum already adores you”  
Harry blushed, pleased to no end to hear that again.  
“Hey mum, dad” Louis greeted his parents.

They were sitting, resting against each other on the couch, and at Louis’ voice they both looked up.

“Hey honey, I thought you’d taken Harry home?”  
“I asked if he wanted to stay over and he said yes”  
“He did?” Jay sounded surprised at that, and it made both Louis and Mark chuckle amusedly whilst Harry looked on in confusion.  
“Yeah, you don’t mind do you?”  
“No of course not, just be careful not to wake up your sisters”  
Louis nodded, “alright then, we’re going up. G’night”

Harry echoed him and they went up the wide staircase, banister polished and shining, and for a second Harry imagined what it’d be like to slide down on it, but then he shook his head. He was sure Jay wouldn’t appreciate anyone doing that.

“Here” Louis motioned him inside his room and Harry couldn’t help but tease him a little, “I thought I was staying in the guest room?”

Harry watched in amusement as Louis gaped, mouth opening and then closing again soundlessly, lost for words.

Throwing his head back, Harry laughed uproariously.

“I’m kidding Lou” he said in between chuckles.

Louis let out a huff of breath and tried to compose himself, “right”.

Smiling, Harry lazily threw his arms over Louis shoulder, kissing him slowly but chastely, before pulling away to drop his back pack by the bed, leaving a dazed Louis staring after him.

“So” Harry turned back to him, lips twitching at the expression on the boy’s face, “the bathroom is…?”  
“Right” Louis said again, seemingly coming back to himself.

After being told where it was, (there were too many rooms in the house for him to remember everything) he set off to it.

The bathroom itself was messier than he’d expected, but then again, he knew this was only one of the three and it was mostly used by Louis.

“Mum and dad have an en suite and the girls share the other two, so I have one to myself” Louis had told him, apparently none of the girls wanted to share with him.

As he brushed his teeth, he studied himself on the mirror; it was only now that he had a minute to himself that he realised he was nervous.

He’d never done this before, never even had a boyfriend, he wasn’t sure what this involved. He was certain about what this night wouldn’t involve, but aside from that, the rest was unknown.

And then there was the fact that sleep made people so vulnerable, he couldn’t imagine just how much more vulnerable he’d feel waking with Louis next to him.

Feeling more timid than he had five minutes ago, Harry walked back to Louis’ room, surprised to find that the boy himself wasn’t there.

He hadn’t had much chance of looking around before, so he did it now.

It was a good sized room and the colour red seemed to predominate around it, though that was mostly because it was covered by football things, from Louis’ favourite football team, to his own team at school, his infamous red jacket thrown carelessly over the back of the chair in front of his desk.

There were pictures everywhere, a few clothes scattered here and there, but mostly the floor was covered by shoes. 

For some reason, Harry wasn’t surprised.

“Hey Curly” Louis re-entered the room, grinning. He was only wearing the bottom part of his pyjamas and Harry had trouble keeping his eyes on Louis’ face, and not letting them slide down below the neck.

Louis was fit. He already knew this of course, but he couldn’t help but make the observation again.

He was ridiculously tanned for this time of the year, when spring had just barely started. He wasn’t terribly defined but he was lean, and Harry had felt how strong those arms were.

Louis smirked, as if he knew exactly the struggle Harry was going through and Harry gave up. If Louis was going to act all big-headed anyway, Harry might as well get something out of it.

He looked down for a few seconds more than one, staring at defined v-lines and happy trail, and thought about how much he’d like to dip his tongue into Louis’ bellybutton, and then taste everywhere else too.

At the sound of Louis coughing, Harry looked up, surprised to find the boy a lot closer than he’d been ten seconds ago.

“Like what you see Curly?” he bit lightly at Harry’s jaw, making a shiver go down the younger boy’s spine.  
“Quite” he answered; voice low and husky.

He wondered when that had happened; when exactly had he become such a horny mess?

Louis hummed his pleasure, “you waaant me” he sang, lips skimming all over Harry’s face and then settling on his neck where he proceeded to give Harry another ridiculously eye-catching love-bite.

Slightly dazed, Harry swayed forward thinking of nothing more than joining their lips together; but to his surprise (and confusion) Louis was pulling away.

“C’mon then” Louis directed him towards the bed, and Harry stumbled after him, feeling slow.

A few minutes later Louis had them both tucked into bed under the duvet, half of his limbs draped on top of Harry, who was more than a little confused, and a lot disappointed.

“G’night Curly’ Louis said brightly, to what was now a grumpy-horny mess of a boy.  
“Good night” he mumbled back.

He didn’t fall asleep easily.

.  
.  
.

He woke up to a grinning Louis staring at him, face immediately above Harry’s.

Startled, he jerked awake, and it was only due to Louis’ quick reflexes that they didn’t bump heads.

Harry groaned loudly, hand going up to rub his face.

“Good morning!” Louis chirped, and Harry decided that yes, this couldn’t be normal.

He glared at the boy, he really didn’t trust anyone that was this cheerful as soon as they woke up.

“Lou” he croaked, pushing the boy off him with his free hand.

All he got for his trouble was a quick kiss to the lips, and mentally he cursed the little smile he knew was showing on his face.

“C’mon Curly, you should be grateful. At least I woke you up before the little monsters could”  
Harry chuckled, “I guess”  
“Good. Now, how are you going to show your gratitude?”  
“Umm, by getting up?”  
“Curlyyy” Louis whined, rolling over so he was draped on top of Harry again.  
“What?”

Louis rolled his eyes, looking very much like he thought Harry was dense.

“I want a kiss” he said slowly, clearly separating all the syllables; and honestly Harry shouldn’t be surprised.

Harry shook his head quickly, “no way”  
“No way?! What kind of response is that? Is that how you react when your boyfriend asks you for a kiss?”  
“It is when said boyfriend hasn’t brushed his teeth yet”  
“You haven’t either” Louis grumbled, pursing his lips and leaning forward to try to steal a kiss.  
Laughing, Harry turned his head so that Louis’ lips bumped against his left cheek, “exactly” he said matter-of-factly.  
“I hate you” Louis said and promptly bit his cheek.  
“Oww!” Harry’s hand flew up to the offended place, “you cannibal”

Louis laughed before he started nibbling on any bits of skin he could get his lips to.

A while later, they were interrupted by Daisy barging into the room with a disgruntled looking Phoebe behind her.

“Hello my loves” Louis greeted them, “what happened to knocking?”  
“I told you Daisy” Phoebe muttered, put off by Daisy’s dismissive shrug.  
“We want to spend time with Harry too!” Daisy said in way of explanation.

Louis arched an eyebrow at the demanding tone, whilst Phoebe groaned shaking her head.

Lips twitching, Harry pressed them firmly together to stop his laughter.

“Come Lou, breakfast is ready and mum says you have to come down”  
“Oi mum says nothing of the sort you little liar, she doesn’t mind me sleeping in when I don’t have school” Louis argued.  
“But – Harry!” she turned to Harry then, who quickly tried to placate her, “alright, alright” he got up, “why don’t you girls give us a few minutes to get ready, and then we’ll come down”

Daisy looked at them suspiciously, “alright, but no wasting time kissing” she told them before running out of the room.

“Who says that’d be a waste of time?” Louis shouted after her, “crazy child” Louis shook his head, and Harry finally let his laughter tumble out as he saw Phoebe mirroring Louis’ movement.

.  
.  
.

The rest of his Easter Holidays went by much in the same fashion.

Harry could hardly say no to Louis when he asked Harry to stay over after the first time, but he wasn’t sure how he ended up spending the whole two weeks at Louis’, spending time with Jay and his sisters, or going out with Louis and the boys.

Louis had complained that by dating Harry, he could never use the excuse of having a ‘boy’s day out’, since Harry was also in that category.

Harry in turn had stared fixedly at Louis until the jerky smile left Louis’ face and the boy apologised in midst of many snickers, with a sweet kiss to Harry’s cheek that Harry had not fallen for.

Harry had given him an unimpressed look that had Niall laughing about how Louis was in the ‘dog house’.

Overall it had been two very nice weeks, they hadn’t bickered (much), they’d had quite a lot of time just the two of them and Louis had even taken him out on another very romantic date (mostly as an apology for his comment, because Harry was still a bit iffy with him, and it seemed like Louis’ first instinct when that happened, was to appease and try to mollify him).

But then, (and there always had to be a but) Nick had called demanding that Harry go visit, and with a small pang of guilt Harry had realised that if not for that call, he wouldn’t have remembered about going up to Nick’s at all.

So he decided to go stay with Nick on his last week-end before school started back up.

Louis hadn’t been too happy about that.

He’d complained and complained, and when that didn’t work, he’d whined, pouting and sulking until the last minute when Harry was buckling in and driving away.

With a smile and a shake of the head, Harry shrugged into a thin blue, long-sleeved shirt, before going to open the door for an eager faced Louis.

“There you are! Why didn’t you pick up my calls yesterday?” Louis demanded, pecking him on the mouth before storming into the house.

Harry followed him into the kitchen and answered with a snappish “because I was busy Louis”  
“And you couldn’t have called me back?” Louis shoved a forkful of Harry’s pancake in his mouth, glaring at him.

Harry sighed, he honestly would’ve called him back, but by Louis’ sixth call, Harry was so annoyed with him that he completely gave up on the idea.

“If you hadn’t been so annoying about it, I would have” Harry told him, as he sat down next to the boy, making himself another place, pancakes buttery shiny.  
Louis spluttered, “I’m not - ! How was I annoying?!”  
Harry arched an eyebrow at him, “you called seventeen times Louis”  
“So? That just shows that I’m a caring boyfriend, that worries when his boyfriend doesn’t pick up the phone”

Harry paused, “you were worried?”  
“Of course I was worried! You didn’t answer or return my calls all day, didn’t even bother to text me to say ‘oh hey I’m busy, but I’m also alive so it’s all good!’” Louis exclaimed, waving his fork around.

Harry looked at him, torn between laughing and smiling all dopey eyed at him. The guilty feeling at the pit of his stomach however told him he should apologise, so sighing, he leaned towards Louis to give him a sideways hug, “I’m sorry Lou, I didn’t think you’d be worried about me”

He didn’t. The thought hadn’t even entered his mind. With a start, Harry realised that maybe he was just as bad at being in a relationship as Louis.

“Hmm well, you should have” Louis grumbled into his shoulder before pulling away, face taking on a stricken expression as he looked at Harry.

“Alright, alright, you’re forgiven! No need to give me that face”

Eyebrows pursing in confusion, Harry asked, “what face?”  
“That face” Louis pointed, “with the pout and the sad eyes”  
“I’m not” Harry started to argue, it was instinctive really. Halfway through his sentence however, he gave up. There was no point arguing, he admitted with defeat, he was pouting after all.  
“Ok” he finally agreed, turning his pursed lips into a small smile, “I am sorry though”

Louis assessed him before smiling back, “good”

And then he kissed him.

.  
.  
.

Back in school, things were as they usually were; Harry spent his first week back with Louis wrapped possessively around him, a gaggle of rowdy boys circling them everywhere they went. People were still staring at them, girls glaring at him and sending Louis (who seemed oblivious to it all) dejected, pitiful glances.

Harry wasn’t too proud to admit how ridiculously pleased those made him feel.

Ms Brown was still too friendly, and Coach Carter was still making them play football.

The only difference now was that every one of his teachers seemed to be in revision mode, now that they’d passed the Easter holiday.

Suddenly Harry had more essays to write than he could he keep up with, his art coursework would be due in soon, as well as his media project. Revision packs for both science and maths were weighting up his back-pack, and Harry concluded things wouldn’t be getting better anytime soon.

It was a depressing thought.

“You’re sulking” Perrie nudged his shoulder.

It was lunch-time of Friday and Harry was once again sitting with Louis, as had become the norm.

He’d sat next to Louis, fitting under his arm, mentally rolling his eyes at the picture they must be making, and setting for a hand on the boy’s knee since he, unlike Louis, did know a thing about being subtle.

He’d let Louis prattle on to his teammates with no idea about what they were talking about, too distracted by his own thoughts. (Harry was getting pretty good at tuning them out. He’d noticed a pattern during the holidays; Louis was much more prone to behave like an arrogant dick when he was with his friends, so Harry had had to develop the habit)

He blinked out of his daze however when Perrie nudged him, turning to her with a surprised look, only then realising he’d been frowning.

“Huh?” he said, not very eloquently, and Perrie giggled at him.  
Harry shook his head.  
“You’ve been glowering at nothing for the past ten minutes” she told him.  
“You have” from in front of him, Zayn agreed, “trouble in paradise?”

Harry frowned at the boy, it was hard not to notice Zayn’s antagonism towards him, especially since they’d been spending so much time around each other lately.

“No” he answered slowly, before turning back to look at Perrie, she was a much more cheerful sight than the moody boy in front of him.  
“Just thinking about all the homework I have”  
“Well, that is a depressing thought” she nodded.  
“Oi, did I hear the ‘H’ word? Why are you talking about it now? You know it gives me indigestion” Niall said from the other side of the table.

Perrie rolled her eyes at him, sparing Harry from the job, “I know, I know” she turned back to Harry, “I have a lot as well. It makes sense, exams are coming up”  
“Argh!” Niall groaned loudly, “not the ‘E’ word as well”   
“Yeah” Dani agreed, “no wonder you’ve been in such a mood Harry, this conversation is actually putting me off my food”  
“Sorry” Harry apologised, laughing, “it’s just, I’ve actually lost count of how many essays I have to write, there’re so many”  
“Well, you’re the nerd, so it shouldn’t be a problem for you” Zayn said, voice harsh.

Surprised at the sudden animosity, Harry looked at him (aware he wasn’t the only one doing it), wondering what could have possibly caused such a reaction.

“Zayn, you alright mate?” Liam asked. He was sitting on Louis’ other side, Danielle next to him, and he was frowning, expression a mixture of cautious and concerned.

Reluctantly, Zayn’s gaze moved towards Liam, and he sighed, “yeah”, he looked at Harry, “sorry”.

He didn’t sound sorry, but Harry had long since lost feeling of his upper arm where Louis’ fingers were gripping, so with a curt nod of the head, he accepted the half-hearted apology.

“Don’t mind him” Perrie told him, voice low, so the others wouldn’t hear, “he’s just in a bad mood, because I rejected him again”  
Harry blinked, “when did that happen?”  
“This morning. It’s the third time he’s asked me to the dance and he still hasn’t done it right” her lips quirked, showing her amusement.

Harry was just happy her standards had risen since her break-up.

Still, he groaned, “great, and now he’s taking it out on me”  
“Sorry” she at least sounded sheepish, “but what did you want me to say when he came up to me all ‘I know you want to go with me, so just say yes already!’ mind you, I do want to go with him, but not until he asks me properly”

Harry laughed, and Perrie shook her head in remembrance, “he sounded right frustrated too, you should’ve seen it”

“What are you two whispering about?” Louis asked suddenly, eyeing the two of them.  
“Exactly what I was wondering” Zayn grouched, eyes suspicious, and it was enough to set both Harry and Perrie laughing.  
“Oh you know, just girl talk” Perrie told them, and Harry snorted, nearly choking on his juice.

If only they knew just how true that was.

.  
.


	10. Chapter 10

“There you are!” Louis said once he spotted Harry.

It was finally the end of the day, and Harry was finally free of Mr Benson’s monologue, though he did have another two essays to add on to his already high pile of homework.

“Hey Lou” Harry pecked him, stomach fluttering at the happy grin on Louis’ face.  
“Let’s go then, you have some cheering to do”  
“I have some essays to write, you mean” Harry rolled his eyes, “I should probably go home”  
“Not going home Curly. I need my cheerleader”  
Harry huffed, “fine. You can’t distract me every ten minutes though”  
“Deal. Come on then”  
“Actually, I have to get something from my locker real quick. I’ll meet by yours yeah?”  
Louis nodded, “okay”

Feeling sluggish, Harry walked towards his locker to pick up his English books. He had a lot of work to do this weekend.

As he walked back towards Louis’ locker, Harry texted Nick to let him know that he wouldn’t be able to come up that weekend.

When he looked up from his phone, it was to see a very unpleasant sight.

There was Louis, by his locker, like he said he’d be, and there was also a girl, whose name Harry didn’t know, standing far too close to Louis.

Unconsciously his pace quickened, and a second later he was wedging himself between the two. He fitted himself against Louis chest and frowned at the girl.

She, the weird orange thing, was glaring at him. Harry wasn’t surprised, it was hard to find a girl who didn’t glare at him these days.

“Hey Louis”  
“Hey babe” Louis immediately wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist, just like Harry knew he would,(Louis wasn’t really able to help himself, especially if Harry was close) and he saw the girl’s gaze follow the movement.

Harry smiled at her, just a little smug.  
“This is Denise, she just joined the cheerleading team, she’s starting today”  
“Umm, good luck” he meant anything but good luck, and the girl seemed to know it, but Harry didn’t really care.  
“Thanks” she said.  
“Great, let’s go then” Louis’ enthusiasm was clear on his face and Harry was unable to stop his smile.

It didn’t last long however, and he went back to frowning when he saw Denise walking on Louis’ other side, so close their shoulders bumped against each other’s with every step they took.  
“So Louis” she played with a lock of her hair, “when’s your next game? I can’t wait to start cheering for you…guys”

Louis grinned at her (Harry couldn’t imagine why, her nasal voice grated on his ears and he had to make a conscious effort no to wrinkle his nose).

“That’s the spirit!” and then he threw an arm around her shoulder. The girl beamed. 

Fiercely, Harry glared at them, tempted to storm off, but he didn’t dare leave her with Louis, so he stuck to Louis’ side, determined to not go anywhere until she had unleached herself from him.

Louis and Denise talked all the way to the football pitch, but Harry didn’t hear what they were saying, too busy simmering in his own anger.

When they finally arrived there Louis turned back to Harry, “you’re staying for the whole practise right?”  
Harry nodded quickly, throwing a sideway glance at the girl who just stood there. She didn’t seem like she was about to go away anytime soon.

Harry pouted unhappily and was taken-aback when Louis swooped in to plant a kiss on his lips. Eyes wide-open he watched as Denise stared at them, squirming in place, before he let his eyes close with a little hum of pleasure.

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed that way, joined at the lips, but he vaguely heard the girl saying she was going to get changed, before he focused back on much important things, like being pressed against Louis, and keeping his mouth open for Louis to explore.

On instinct, his hands went for Louis’ hair, wanting to keep him there for as long as possible; it took him a while to realise there was someone calling for Louis.

Louis finally pulled away, though Harry did put up a fight, chasing after his lips until Louis kissed him again and again (he had great persuasion skills), until Louis was forced to push him away by the hips.

“I’ve to go Curly” Louis grinned at him.

Harry blinked, not listening, and leaned in for another slow kiss.

After a few too short seconds, Louis pulled away again, laughing, “Curly! You greedy thing” Louis reprimanded him, though he didn’t really seem to mind. In fact, he seemed quite smug about it.

Harry was too thoroughly kissed to care.

He stood there long after Louis had vanished into the changing rooms, smiling dreamily at nothing.

It took him a while to shake it off and remind himself to move.

For the next to hours he worked on his English essays. The first one didn’t take him very long. Unfortunately, before he could get anywhere with the second one, he found himself getting distracted.

He watched the girls as they practised by the side of the field. Denise didn’t seem to be doing very well, he could hear Taylor telling her to concentrate every five minutes, and Harry realised irritated, that it was because she too, was distracted. She was watching Louis.

It irked him.

At least Harry could enjoy the fact that her first practise wasn’t going well.

Harry kept his eyes on her (much like she kept hers on Louis) and it was only the sound of his phone ringing that succeeded in breaking his stare.

“Hi Nick” Harry greeted, both annoyed and pleased to see Denise ruining what could have possibly been a great human pyramid, her attention obviously focused on something else.  
“Harold”

Attention caught, Harry focused on Nick’s voice, surprised to realise that he couldn’t hear it. With the exception of Harry’s name, the man didn’t say anything else.

“Nick? Y’alright?”  
“Yes. So you’re not coming this week-end?”  
Harry sighed, “no, sorry, I can’t”  
“Let me guess, your dear boyfriend said so?” his tone was scathing and it only served to confirm to Harry that there was something wrong.  
“Hey, what’s up with you?”  
“Oh I don’t know. Maybe it’s the fact that you have an arse of a boyfriend and you’re being a spineless little shit and letting him boss you around”

Startled at the sudden attack Harry spun around on his bench, his back to the pitch, though not before his gaze caught Louis’, who waved at him.

Harry grimaced in form of a smile and turned away.

“What are you talking about Nick?”  
“I’m talking about the fact that you’re not coming up this week-end”  
“And you immediately assumed it was because Louis didn’t want me to go?”  
“Isn’t it?” he sneered, “If I hadn’t called and demanded that you come, I wouldn’t have seen you at all on the holidays. You’re telling me that’s not because of him?”  
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you” Harry snapped, stomping down the guilty feeling; he didn’t like being cornered.  
“Really? Then why aren’t you coming this week-end?”  
“For god’s sake Nick! I don’t have to be there every week-end do I? Why are you making such a fuss of it now?” running his fingers through his hair, Harry tugged at it in frustration.  
“Because I know the reason you’re not coming”  
“Do you really? Because the reason I’m not coming is because I have so much work and revision to do, I don’t even know what to do with myself”

There was a beat of silence and then, “what about during the holidays then?”

Harry grimaced, guilt returning. The truth was that he’d simply forgotten about it. Though he honestly never thought Nick would care so much about it.

Nick was a very casual, independent sort of person, he didn’t really get close to a lot of people. Harry had never minded, he himself didn’t get attached easily, and he had a vague idea that it was because Nick’s cynicism had rubbed off on him a bit too much.

He couldn’t understand why now Nick was being so…needy.

Harry cringed at the thought of the word alone; he abhorred it.

“I was with Louis” he decided to be honest about it, there was no point lying anyway.  
“I knew it!”  
“Fuck’s sake Nick!” he exploded, “do you really think I care whether Louis wants me to see you or not? When you called me and said you wanted me to come over I did, didn’t I? Louis didn’t want me to go then either, but do you think I cared?”

Nick didn’t answer, and Harry was far too annoyed to relish the fact that he’d finally stumped him.

“I’ll talk to you later” he said quietly, not giving Nick time to answer before ending the call.

He turned back around just is time to see Denise waving at Louis.

Harry took a deep breath, telling himself to calm down. It didn’t help it when he saw Louis waving back at her.

It was just a wave. Obviously Denise meant a lot more by it than Louis did, but it was still just a wave, he shouldn’t take his annoyance out at Louis, he told himself.

It still didn’t stop him from turning his face away when Louis came over to kiss him at the end of practise.

“What’s up?” Louis asked. He was either stupidly oblivious or stupidly good at pretending to be.

Either way he was stupid.

“I can’t believe you!” Harry snapped.  
“What?”  
“That girl was practically ogling you!”  
“Really?” Louis smirked.

As if he didn’t already know.

Harry punched his shoulder, “you could act less pleased about it!”  
“What? It’s not my fault if she’s the one looking”  
“She was doing a lot more than just looking”

At Louis’ inquisitive gaze, Harry threw his hands up, “she was flirting with you!”  
“Was she?” Louis sounded positively delighted.

Harry huffed, crossing his arms angrily; Louis was unbelievable.

“Aw Curly, I’m just teasing you. You’re cute when you’re jealous”

Harry spluttered, mouth opening to argue, but Louis’ attention, had already shifted to something else.

Harry would’ve been annoyed, except there was a frown on Louis’ face, eyes squinting shut and he looked almost…worried.

Harry followed his line of sight. What he saw puzzled him; there was Niall and there was Eleanor talking close together.

“What is it?” he asked, failing to see what was wrong with the picture.

Louis pursed his lips, reluctantly dragging his eyes away from the couple.

“Did you know Niall’s had a crush on her for forever?”  
“On Eleanor?” Harry frowned, “didn’t you and her…?”  
“Yep. Idiot only told me about it afterwards”  
“Huh. Why don’t you look happy about it then?” Harry wondered out loud. Louis didn’t still like her, did he?

Granted Louis and Eleanor had only been ‘together’ for about three weeks (they’d been the talk of the school at the time. Perfect, pretty cheerleader ‘dating’ the captain of the football team, it was something taken right out of a bad American high school movie. Harry had rolled his eyes every time he heard anything about it) but after Harry, Eleanor had been Louis’ longest kind-of-relationship.

“She seems sweet doesn’t she?” Louis asked instead, ignoring Harry’s question.

Harry held his breath, not sure what to feel about that. He looked back at the couple; Eleanor was indeed smiling rather sweetly at Niall.

“I suppose?” his answer sounded a lot more like a question.  
“She isn’t” Louis told him, tone dry; Harry had never heard him like that, “she’s quite vicious actually, and she wasn’t too happy when I ended it with her”

Harry looked between them, he was starting to get an idea of what this was about.

“And what? You think she’s gonna do something?”  
“She was never interested in anyone but me” Louis said, a thoughtful smile on his face.

Harry almost rolled his eyes, except he knew it was true (the whole school did. Apparently being a social recluse didn’t stop him from hearing all the gossip).

“But pretty much as soon as I broke it off with her, she started showing interest on him” he continued.  
“You think she’s doing it to get to you?”

Louis nodded, looking back at Harry, “Niall is not an idiot. He’s not naïve or anything, but he likes her, though I can’t imagine why”

Harry understood what Louis was saying, he knew that liking someone turned you a bit blind to that person’s flaws. He himself was an example, he didn’t become blind to Louis’ faults exactly, but he’d become tolerant to it. Sometimes he even (to his horror) caught himself rolling his eyes fondly at Louis’ antics.

Harry sighed. He wanted to be annoyed at Louis for flirting with that girl, but he couldn’t do it when Louis was acting all thoughtful and concerned for his friend.

That was one of the reasons he was glad he’d gotten the chance to get to know Louis and his friend, because now he knew that their friendship went deeper than of those superfluous high-school relationships that often meant forgetting all about each other once they left.

“It’ll be okay” Harry reassured, “and if she does anything I’ll just get Perrie to slap her”

Harry was more than a little pleased when that got a laugh out of Louis.

“Talking about that, Zayn’s not very happy with you at the moment”  
Harry scoffed, “no, really? I had no idea”

Louis laughed again, seemingly back to his usual cheerful self.

“He’s jealous that Perrie spends so much time with you”

Harry threw him a look.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I was too, once upon a time”

Smiling, Harry promptly rolled his eyes, “anyway, I don’t think that’s the only reason he doesn’t like me”  
“Don’t be silly Curly, there isn’t anyone who can not like you, you’re too cute”

Harry shook his head, Louis was in some serious denial. He was pretty sure that there were at least a few dozen people who disliked him intensely now-a-days. Louis was to blame, of course. Harry was sure no one would even give him a second look if he wasn’t with Louis. Let alone drop-dead-glares.

“Whatever” Harry said annoyed.

Apparently Louis was the blindest of them all.

.  
.  
.

“You need help?” Louis asked once he parked the Porsche in front of Harry’s house. Harry longingly wondered when he’d see the Range Rover again.   
“With what?” Harry turned his confused eyes on Louis.  
“To pack your things? You’re staying over at mine, aren’t you?”

Harry groaned; he was tired of that question already.

“No Louis, I’m not”  
“Why?” Louis whined.  
“Because, I have a lot of work to do, and I probably won’t get any of it done with you around”  
“That’s not true” Louis argued, “I could help you with it. Eh? How about it?”

Harry thought that over, Louis was (sad to say) annoyingly smart.

He sighed, “fine, you really do have to help me though”  
“Cross my heart” Louis promised, expression solemn.

Harry rolled his eyes and once again caught himself smiling as he did.

Damn it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is the popular football player, there’s nothing he wants he can’t get.
> 
> He wants Harry, but Harry is not impressed.
> 
> (Where Harry gets to wear Louis’ letterman jacket, with a scowl on his face, whilst being secretly pleased about it)

Things didn’t get easier as the weeks progressed; in fact Harry’s pile of homework had risen to unmanageable levels.

Schoolwork aside, it had become obvious that Nick was avoiding him.

He felt like he didn’t give Louis enough credit. Calling someone an endless amount of time, only for them not to pick up was very frustrating.

Louis too, wasn’t too happy that he couldn’t unglue Harry from his phone (when it wasn’t the phone, it was homework, Louis just didn’t like not having Harry’s attention on him) and had taken to sulking around or obnoxiously knocking Harry’s phone off his hand.

Sometimes, Harry felt like he was dating a child.

As if that wasn’t enough to make this month his worst one yet, (seriously, school was not this hard last year) there was also Denise who always seemed to be with Louis when Harry wasn’t (and even when he was) and to top it all off, Zayn was still being a pain in the arse.

As the weather grew warmer, Harry grew wearier. He thought himself pathetic for being so paranoid, but it felt like everywhere he went in school, there was either a girl (or boy) glaring at him, or leering at Louis.

He wasn’t a jealous person as a main rule, but it was hard not to notice that ninety-five percent of people in school weren’t too happy about him being with Louis.

Louis, in turn, still behaved as if everything was unicorns and rainbows. 

Harry envied him a little.

Still, as far as evil looks went, Harry could tolerate them. What he couldn’t tolerate, he thought grimly, was the way Denise’s hand was gripping on to Louis’ forearm. 

He found the long, fake, acrylic nails particularly bothersome today.

It was odd, he usually thought of them as pretty, on Gemma at least. On Denise they just looked like sharp claws.

He cleared his throat as he approached, not appeased in the slightest with the smile Louis sent his way; Denise’s hand still on his arm.

On any other day, Harry would’ve walked into Louis’ arms (subtly knocking Denise’s hand away) and pulled him into a kiss. 

Today wasn’t any other day. In fact, today had been a pretty bad day, and Harry found that he simply didn’t have the patience for subtle, dignified responses. 

Instead, he let his eyes drop down to where they were still touching. Neither of them reacted, (stupid, stupid, stupid) with the exception of the little smirk on the corner of Denise’s pale lips.

Alright that was enough.

“Louis lets go” he said brusquely. He wanted to go home, and he wanted to go home now. He was more than ready for this week to be over.  
“Sure babe” Louis didn’t seem to notice his mood (again, stupid), but he did finally pull away to start leading them outside. To Harry’s further annoyance, Denise started to walk with them, hand reaching out to Louis again.

Harry snapped.

“I said Louis. Is your name Louis?” he asked scathingly.

Denise blinked, obviously surprised, before she turned a bright smile on Louis.

Fake, Harry thought.

“Actually I thought you could give me a lift Tommo? Taylor drove me here today, but she had to leave early, so – “  
“No” Harry cut in, before she could spew any more of her lies.

This time they both blinked confusedly at him.

“Curly” Louis started, but Harry cut him off as well.  
“Don’t you Curly me” he turned his angry gaze on Denise, who was smart enough to finally step back and away from Louis, “first,” he turned to Louis, “you’re with the Porshe today, so unless you plan on leaving me to walk home, then no he can’t give you an unnecessary ride back home”

Denise immediately started to protest, but Harry’s patience had run out about ten minutes ago, when he’d first seen the two of them together.

“Second, you didn’t get a ride from Taylor. You drove to school today, nearly ran me over in the parking lot too, remember?” he curled his lips in disgust at the embarrassed blush on the girl’s face.

Louis frowned, he didn’t seem very happy that Denise had lied to him, but he didn’t seem to be under any illusions as to why she did.

“Huh”

In a sudden move, Harry whipped his head towards Louis.

“Huh? That’s all you can say? Huh?!”

Louis looked at him, taken aback, “H – “

But with pursed lips, Harry spun on his heel, walking away.

“Harry!” Louis called, but ignoring him, Harry pushed the doors open with a loud ‘bang’ before walking outside. If Louis was so eager to spend time with Denise, that Harry could walk home.

Whatever. It’s not like he cared.

“Hey! What’s up with you?” Louis spun him around.  
“Don’t touch me!” he hissed.  
“Harry! What the hell?” bewildered, Louis stared at him.

Harry didn’t offer an explanation. Louis could be a stupid as he wanted, as long as Harry didn’t have to put up with it.

“I should be asking that!” Harry snapped.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“What’s wrong? Maybe you letting that girl flirt with you right in front of me for weeks is what’s wrong. Maybe you not even saying anything when you find out she was lying to our bloody faces is what’s wrong”

Louis scoffed, and Harry’s eyes narrowed in response.

“Don’t be silly Curly. She was the one flirting with me. You can’t be mad at me for that!”  
“Yes but I didn’t see you stopping her. You just – just let her. As if you didn’t have a boyfriend. You just let her drape herself all over you right in front of me! If you didn’t want to be in a relationship with me, then you shouldn’t have bothered me so much about it!” he spat, both angry and bitter, before turning away once again. 

He needed a break.

.  
.  
.

Harry wasn’t any less angry by the next day. Going home hadn’t been the break he needed.

His scowl had been visible a mile off and his mum wouldn’t leave him alone about it.

The worst part was that she always seemed to side with Louis, and she didn’t even know what had happened!

He left media, huffing and ignoring the odd looks he received.

He stopped short at the entrance to the hall, he’d found it weird that time when the football team had been missing from their table, but them being there without the girls was just surreal.

He approached the table warily, “uh where’re the girls?” he made sure to sit down next to Dany, and far away from a sulking Louis. Harry had told him to go away any time the boy had come close to him, and he had no doubt that this was the reason for the scowl on Louis’ face.

“Where’s Perrie you mean” Zayn answered him grumpily.

Harry arched an eyebrow; apparently Louis wasn’t the only one in a bad mood.

Ignoring Zayn, he turned his questioning gaze on Dany.

“They’ve practise” Dany answered mid-chewing, “they’re trying to train that bird Denise”

At the mention of the girl’s name, Harry’s mood soured.

“Hm” he hummed, eyes fixed on his sandwich.

“She hasn’t been doing very well, Danielle says she’s driving Taylor crazy” Liam added.   
“Well maybe if she could focus more on the actual cheerleading…” Harry snarked.

There was an awkward pause as the group looked between Harry and Louis.

“Sooo” Niall started, trying to break the tense silence, “any luck with Perrie, Z?”

Immediately Zayn went from grumpy to glaring, and Harry almost laughed. Niall hadn’t chosen the best subject change.

He wasn’t surprised to see Zayn’s gaze shifting to him, as if it was all his fault that Perrie hadn’t said yes.

On any other day he would’ve kept quiet. It was funny how hanging out with this group had diminished his (usually) endless patience to inexistent in the last week.

Today he didn’t have the patience, or self-control to keep quiet. (He also didn’t have Louis gripping on to any of his limbs, so he wouldn’t say anything)

“Glaring at me won’t make her say yes to you” Harry told him flatly, refusing to break eye-contact.

Zayn visibly bristled, but Harry only leaned back against his chair, staring calmly back at the dark eyed boy.

“And you know what’ll make her say yes” Zayn sneered at him.  
“Yes actually”

Zayn’s eyebrows raised up towards his hairline.

“All you have to do” Harry leaned forwards, “is stop being a dick”

That took a second to sink in, and it was only Louis’ arm on Zayn’s shoulder that stopped him from lunging at Harry.

“Zayn!” Louis said loudly, voice firm.

Reluctantly Zayn settled down again, jaw clenched.

Rolling his eyes, Harry stood up slowly.

“If you’d just ask her, instead of telling her to go with you, she’d say yes” Harry told him before walking out.

He had history and maths next, but he ignored that, feeling the need to get out.

He kicked at the grass under his feet moodily. His annoyance this time was directed at himself. Because he could admit to himself that he was disappointed, and it was impossible to deny it; this thing with Louis wasn’t working.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, finally, Chapter 12.

Harry was packing his backpack when Louis arrived, having been let in by his mum, (the traitor).

Louis frowned at his bag, “where are you going?”  
“To see Gemma” he didn’t look up from his task, instead, he pulled harshly at the zipper, not very mindful of the fact that the backpack was bulging, filled to capacity.

He definitely wasn’t expecting what Louis said next.  
“I’m coming with”

Harry paused, and looked up slowly, “I didn’t invite you”  
Louis shrugged, “invite me then”  
Harry scoffed, “I don’t think so”  
“C’mon Cur – “  
“No”  
“Why are you mad at me?!” he finally exploded, “you’re the one that went around calling my best mate a dick!”  
“Oh yes, because you’ve said such nice things about mine” Harry said back scathingly.  
“Your best mate /is/ a dick!”  
“Yeah, well, so is yours”

Louis’ lips pursed. Harry almost wanted him to argue.

“Ok, fine” Louis let out in a breath, “maybe he has been a bit harsh with you. He just hasn’t been in a very good mood lately…”

Harry rolled his eyes at the ridiculous excuse.

“Yeah, its too bad his bad mood is only directed at me” he finally managed to zip his backpack, and he heaved it up his shoulder, going for the door.

Louis was there blocking his way before he reached it, and his hand clenched around the strap of his bag.  
“Louis –“

Louis put his hands up interrupting him.

“I’m sorry about Zayn” he apologised, somewhat reluctantly, “but I’m definitely coming with you”

Harry let out a huff of disbelief, “you – “  
“You either take me with you, or I’ll just follow behind” he cut him off, face stubborn.

“You wouldn’t”  
“I would” Louis contradicted.

Harry believed him.

He let out a long sigh, feeling drained, “fine, do whatever you want”

Louis grinned, smug like he knew he’d get his way all along.

Harry turned away from him, lips pursed into a thin line.

“Let’s go then”

His mum said a quiet goodbye, aware of the tense atmosphere between the two of them, and Harry had to force a smile even though it was the last thing he felt like doing.

“Well, shall we?” Louis asked. He sounded meek now, as if he was surprised that Harry’s reluctant agreement didn’t mean he wasn’t mad anymore.

“We’re not taking your car” Harry told him flatly.  
Louis blinked, surprise evident on his face, “why not?”  
“Because I’m driving”  
“Oh” Louis followed after him, “you can drive my car if you want”

Harry’s pause was nearly imperceptible, and it happened more due to his surprise at the offer than any willingness he had to agree to what Louis said.

“No, thanks”  
“C’mon Curly, you know you want to. You loved driving it, remember?”  
“No” Harry said again.  
“Why not?!”  
“Is there something wrong with my mum’s car?” Harry asked, instead of answering.  
“What? No! You know that’s not what I meant!”  
“Well then, get in” Harry said, opening the passenger door for Louis, brows raised expectantly.

Obviously unhappy about it, Louis did.

“Harry leaned down, “you know, you don’t have to come if you – “

Louis cut him off by slamming the door shut after him.  
.  
.  
.

The two had to make a quick stop at Louis’ place so he could get some clothes as well.

Harry waited in the car whilst Louis went in, and he was surprised when less than ten minutes later Louis was crawling back in the car.

“That was fast” Harry pointed out.  
“Just in case you decided to leave me behind” Louis said, sarcasm in full force.  
“The thought crossed my mind” Harry said, nonchalant, as he started the car.

Louis didn’t answer, and the next two hours passed in the same fashion; a stilted, heavy silence hanging over them.

Harry had never been gladder to arrive somewhere.

Reaching out to ring the doorbell, Harry had a second to think again about how bringing Louis was a bad idea, before the door was thrown open.

“Hazzabear!”

It was Vanessa, and she immediately latched onto him.

“Hey Ness” he hugged her, “are you sure you’re the one who should be answering the door?” he asked, amused in spite of his previous bad mood. She was, after all, only wearing a towel, curly brown hair wet and dripping down her back.

“Shut up” she slapped his shoulder, “I look great in anything!”  
“Did I hear Harry’s name?” a blonde head peeked out of where Harry knew was the kitchen, and the girl’s smile widened when she caught sight of him.

“Hazza!” She cried out, loud enough to alert everyone in the house of his presence, before running towards him and throwing her arms around both him and Vanessa, causing the two to stumble a step, before Harry caught himself and gripped the two girls more tightly in response.

“Hi Mel” he greeted,

Melanie was short, blued-eyed and way too skinny for someone so strong.

“I haven’t seen you in ages!” she said to his shoulder.  
Harry laughed, “you’re exaggerating”

“Hey, who’s this?” Vanessa asked, catching sight of Louis behind him.

Before Harry could answer, he heard the sound of steps running down the stairs (one would think they were baby elephants instead of two small girls with the amount of noise they were making”

“Harry is here?” he heard Rachel before he saw her, her long black hair was pulled up into a messy bun, a huge glittering green butterfly on her hair. Right after her was – 

“Harry? Where is that doofus?”

Gemma, of course.

Once hugs were dished out, (“Gemma, you’re blonde!”) the girls’ attention went back to Louis who was still standing half behind Harry on the hallway, a curious frown on his face.

“Harry, who’s this?” Gemma asked, but Harry could tell from the way the corner of her lips curved up slyly, that she already knew who it was.

He’d been right, of course. Bringing Louis was a very bad idea, especially when it meant introducing him to the little evil monster that was his sister.

“Let me guess” she went on when Harry didn’t answer, “Louis, right?”  
“Oooh” Melanie said.  
“I see someone’s been talking about me” Louis grinned, giving Harry a side-glance.  
“Oh, you have no idea”  
“Gemma” he reprimanded.  
“Do tell” Louis said, expression full of mischief.

Gemma’s eyes gleamed gleefully, and Harry decided right then that this was going to be a very long, very embarrassing week-end.

“No” he interrupted before Gemma could start,   
“Right” Harry cleared his throat, “erm, girls this is Louis. Louis this is my sister Gemma, and Vanessa, Rachel and Mel” he pointed at each grinning girl accordingly, and they rushed forward as soon as he’d finished, to offer Louis many sticky-with-lip-gloss kisses on the cheek.

Louis, the flirt, Harry thought with a flash of irritation, was very happily accepting them, grinning all the while.

“’S nice to meet you girls” he said, and they all startled at the excited screech that Melanie let out.

Harry looked at her, bemused.

“Your accent is so cute!” she said, going back and forth on the balls of her feet.  
“Have to blame my mum for that” Louis shrugged modestly.  
Harry blinked, before turning his attention on his sister.

“Gem, can I talk to you? Um, in private?”

The other girls groaned, though they were used to the two of them going off together.

Gemma frowned, and Harry tried to force another smile. Gemma as usual, was too perceptive to fall for it.

“C’mon then” she started back up the stairs, and Harry followed quickly, firm in the belief that the girls would keep Louis occupied for a few minutes.

“What is it then?” Gemma asked as she entered her bedroom.

She shared it with Vanessa, who she’d been friends with since she was twelve, and two girls sharing a room meant that there was an explosion of fabrics and colours and sparkling shoes that were slightly disorienting at first glance.

Harry however was used to it, so he followed after her, going straight towards her bed, and plopping himself down, face first.

“Things with Louis are a bit…tense”  
“Yeah?” she lied down, head on his lap, and his hands immediately went to play with her hair. It was a habit he picked up when a child that he’d never grown out of.

“Uhum, I don’t know… we’ve been fighting a lot”  
“That’s not uncommon though H, every couple has their fights”

Harry squirmed a little at the word ‘couple’, it still made his insides erupt in flutters.

“Yeah, but not this early right?”  
“Well, sometimes yeah, especially if they’re as different as you and Louis are. It’ll take some time before you two settle together”  
“What happened to that honeymoon phase everybody talks about?” he grumbled.

Gemma laughed, eyes squinted, and Harry couldn’t help but smile down at her.

“With you being you H, you wouldn’t have a honeymoon phase even if you were dating Prince Charming himself!”  
“Um, well, Louis is very charming when he’s not being as ass”  
Gemma grinned, “you just proved my point”  
“What? What point?”  
“That you’re really difficult”  
“Whatever” he grumbled again, before she sprung up from the bed before looking down at him, hands on her hips, “you like him right?”

Harry bit his lip.

“Harry”  
“Yeah.. I do”  
“Good. Give it a chance then”  
Harry let out a breath, “yeah, alright”  
“Come on, let’s go back down”

They both went back downstairs a few minutes later to find a Louis that was surrounded by Gemma’s flatmates, and who seemed very happy about it.

He seemed to be enjoying himself, grinning as the girls chatted around him.

It didn’t take Harry long to work out why he was grinning so wide.

“He was the cutest thing ever, cheeky too. Still is” Vanessa was telling Louis from where she was perched at the arm of the couch, now thankfully dressed.  
“He really is!” Melanie enthused, head bobbing, “I was pretty disappointed when I found out he wasn’t straight”  
“Mel!” Rachel reprimanded, though she too had a sly little smile on her face.  
“I know, I know, I’m just saying. You don’t need to worry though, Louis” she turned back to Louis, whose face was torn between a frown and a amused smirk.  
“He’s more of our little brother now” she finished.

Harry cleared his throat, eye catching Louis’ who was now smirking unabashedly.

Flushing, he turned a reproachful gaze on Melanie, “I thought we agreed on never talking about this again”

Melanie giggled, “sorry H”  
“Anyway, I don’t know why you’re the one embarrassed” Vanessa said, “it was Mel who had a puppy dog crush on you”

The two mentioned parties blushed, though Harry was unsure whether Melanie’s pink cheeks were due to embarrassment or the half-drunk glass of wine on her hand.

“Not that we can blame you” Vanessa continued, walking up to where Harry was standing, just past the door, “he is rather precious, isn’t he?” she cooed, leaning in to tug a lock of his hair and plant a smacking kiss to his cheek.

Harry grinned (he wouldn’t say it, just in case it meant tempting her, but he was just glad she had kissed his cheek instead of pinching it) and hugged her hard enough to lift her off the ground.

Vanessa let out a shriek that she’d never admit to, before punching him on the shoulder as he set her back down.

“Not funny Harry Edward” she grumped, a disgruntled look on her face as she patted down her dress.

 

Harry smiled at her before saying to the room at large, “I’m gonna head out for a bit”  
“What? What about me?” Louis asked.  
Harry shrugged with fake nonchalance, “you seem fine where you are” and shut the door swiftly behind him, walking down the road towards Nick’s.

Luckily he didn’t live too far away from Gemma, barely a ten minutes walk.

Harry walked leisurely, hands shoved in his pockets, the temperature had dropped quite a bit now that it was late evening.

He knocked on the door, knowing not to use the doorbell, it’d been broken since Nick had moved in, and he had never bothered to fix it.

After another few minutes the door was finally opened by Nick, whose face darkened at the sight of Harry.

“Great to see you too” Harry mumbled to himself, before sidestepping Nick and walking into the house.  
“Harold” Nick said, voice flat.

Harry’s eyebrows raised towards his hairline, “Nick”  
“What’re you doing here?”  
“Um? Did I give you the impression that I was never coming over again? Because that would be a good reason for you to be mad at me” he made himself comfortable on the couch. He wasn’t planning on leaving until he and Nick had talked about this.

“Look Harold, I don’t have time for this alright? I have things to do and places to be, so if you could – “  
“What things?”  
“What? Things Harry”  
“What things?” Harry asked again.  
“/Important/ things” Nick glared at him.  
“Really? More important than talking to your best mate about how you’re avoiding him for no reason?”  
“I’m not avoiding you” Nick rolled his eyes, as if he could get out of this conversation if he was just casual enough about it.  
“I called about half a dozen times this week Nick”  
“Yes, I know. Needy much?”

Harry bristled, he hated the word as much as Nick did, and he knew it.

“So I’m the needy one now? Is that what you’re saying because we’ve gone months without seeing each other, and it was never a problem before”  
“It’s not a problem now” Nick cut in.  
“So why d’you make such a fuss about it last week?”

Nick paused, “because I know the real reason why you didn’t come”  
“I told you the reason why I couldn’t come Nick, and that wasn’t it” Harry answered, knowing exactly what Nick had been thinking.  
“Oh really?” Nick took in an angry breath, as if rearing up for a fight, but Harry cut him off before he could start on his rant.  
“And even if it was because of Louis” Nick’s jaw clenched at the name, “how is that a problem? He’s my boyfriend! How many times have you ditched me before for a shag?”

Harry took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure when he’d stood up from the couch, but he found himself standing in front of Nick, chest heaving with self-righteous anger.

Nick pressed his lips together, stubborn, “that’s different”  
“How?! How is it different Nick? Huh? God, just admit it. You’re not angry because you think I’m ditching you for my boyfriend, you’re angry because my boyfriend is /Louis/”  
“He’s not right for you”

It wasn’t the first time he’d said it, but Harry wasn’t any less angry this time.

“Oh please” he sneered, “have any of your relationships been right for you? And have I ever said anything about it?”

There was another stretch of silence, and Harry knew he’d won this one, because there was no way Nick could argue with that.

“So what are you gonna do about it? Gonna be mad at me indefinitely?” he challenged.

Nick sighed, shoulders slumping, (it was a surprising sight) but there was a glitter of emotion in his eyes that Harry couldn’t exactly pinpoint.

“You know, I think you’ve spent way too much time with me”

Harry looked at him surprised.

“And I’ve ruined you for ever. God I need a drink” he finished, hands going up to mess up his already messy hair.

Harry shrugged, but he was smiling when he said, “let’s go get one then”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I know it's been months and months and months. But if by chance you're still checking up here, or even remember this little story of mine, here's the new chapter. Not much more to go now.  
> Also the lack of italics will someday be the death of me.

It was halfway through his third or fourth drink maybe, that he started wondering why he’d been fighting with Nick so much about a relationship that was so close to being over.

He stood there for a couple of seconds, mouth open and gaze unfocused as he realised that Nick was right. He himself had been thinking about how things with Louis weren’t working.

He’d been thinking about breaking up with him.

"Harold! There you are! I got you another drink!" Nick suddenly appeared, a dark blue drink in hand, and Harry snapped his mouth. He was drunk yes, but even then he wasn’t stupid enough to admit to Nick what he’d been thinking.

"Great!" he exclaimed, and then downed the whole thing in one.

"That’s the spirit!" Nick grinned.

"Harry" Grace suddenly popped up behind Nick.

"Hey Grace" he grinned at her, smile widening as she scowled at him.

"Your sister called"

"Gem? Is she alright?"

Grace shrugged, sipping at her drink, “yeah, but apparently neither you or Nick are picking up your phones, and your boyfriend is looking for you”

Oh. Shit.

"Wait, what? Tomlinson is here?"

He’d forgotten about Louis.

"Why the hell did you bring him here?"

How the hell had he forgotten about Louis?

"Harold?"

Well, he hadn’t really. He’d been thinking about him all night.

He barely registered Nick’s voice in the background, but he did notice the slap Grace gave him on the back of the head.

"Just call him" she rolled her eyes.

She didn’t call him an idiot out loud, but Harry heard it anyway.

"Right" he nodded, "call him"

He stepped out of the bar, ignoring Nick who was still demanding an explanation. With his finger an inch away from the call button, he paused.

Why should he call Louis? He was mad at him, wasn’t he?

In a second, he remembered what the reason was for thinking he should break up with him, and his guilt abated.

He squirmed in place for a bit, knees jiggling nervously, the memory of Louis saying he’d been worried about him still fresh in his mind.

He didn’t know he had made his mind up until he heard Louis’ voice through the phone speakers.

"Harry?"

"Hi Lou"

There was the sound of a sigh on the other end, “Harry what the hell? You leave like that and doesn’t come back for hours, and you /don’t pick up your phone!/”

So he had been worried. Not just worried. Harry could hear it in his voice. Louis sounded…hurt.

His guilt returned.

"Yes, well, I’m mad at you!"

"What, and you decided disappearing on me was the best way to show it!?"

Well, that actually had nothing to do with it. All he’d been thinking about when he left was of talking to Nick, which had led to him being in a bar getting completely wasted because that’s usually how things went with Nick.

There was another sigh at the end of the line.

"Just come back alright?"

Harry didn’t answer.

"Curly? I promise we can talk about this okay? And, uh, I um, I’m sorry about Denise"

Harry held his breath, both at the mention of Denise and Louis’ apology, not sure what he was supposed to do now.

"I’m still mad at you" he mumbled.

"I know" Louis chuckled.

"Oh for gods sake, H! Just get your butt back here!"

That was his sister. Somehow Harry wasn’t surprised to hear her voice in the middle of his conversation with Louis. She’d always been nosy.

Must be an older sister thing.

Harry was slightly disorientated when he woke up the next morning, and it took him a few seconds to realise he was in his sister’s living room.

There was a pillow under his head, and a blanket thrown over him. He was on the floor.

Frowning he sat up, trying to remember when exactly he’d gotten back to his sister’s. The sound of someone clearing their throat had him looking up, and there was Louis, sat up on the sofa with a blanket bunched up on his lap, staring right at him.

At least now he knew why he was on the floor.

"Morning" Louis greeted, eyebrows raised.

Flushing for no reason he could explain, Harry mumbled the greeting back at him.

"How much did you drink last night?" Louis sounded casual, looked casual. Harry wasn’t falling for it.

"Not that much" he answered, defensive.

"No hangover?"

"No"

"Good, that means we can talk then" he said cheerfully, and Harry rebuked himself. He’d walked right into that one.

He tried to remind himself that he was the one that was mad, but it was hard when Louis’ stare made him squirm guiltily.

"I’m hungry" he said instead, which was really the worst kind of deflection he could’ve thought of, but sadly the first one that came to mind.

"We can talk over breakfast" Louis agreed easily.

Harry sighed. When exactly had Louis become so eager to talk?

"I usually go out for breakfast with Gemma"

Louis stood up, “I don’t think so Curly. You’re not ditching me again”

"He’s right" Gemma interrupted, half way down the stairs, "Once is enough don’t you think?"

Before Harry could start protesting about her siding with Louis (his mum only was enough) she continued, “and now you’re even”

Ah yes. Their first date.

"Erm" it was Louis’ turn to look guilty now.

"Why don’t the three of us go out for breakfast, and you two can talk?"

Harry frowned at her, “with you there?”

"Yes" she said brightly, "I’ll be your intermediary" she grinned.

She was evil.

"No" both Louis and him said at the same time.

Her grin widened, “would you look at that. The two of you can actually agree on something” she chuckled, “just because of that, I’ll let you kids sort this out yourselves”

Harry narrowed his eyes at her, “you have plans with Ben don’t you?”

"Yep" she answered, unbothered.

Harry rolled his eyes. Louis snickered.

"Have fun lovelies. Don’t break anything" she called out and was out the door a second later.

Harry and Louis looked at each other.

"I like her" Louis announced.

Harry sighed.

The walk to Dory’s, the breakfast place Harry frequented with Gemma, was very silent, and very very awkward.

They both walked with their hands shoved into their pockets, and tried to pretend they weren’t stealing glances at each other every other minute.

Thankfully the cheerful looking place wasn’t too busy, and they were given a table for four, instead of having to squish themselves on the ones that were supposedly made for two, but would only fit one child comfortably.

They sat. Menus were put aside. Harry fidgeted.

"So"

"So..?"

They looked at each other, both with their mouths pursed, both refusing to be the first one to speak, and only broke out of the stare when the sound of someone clearing their throat startled them.

"um" their waitress blushed once their eyes fixed on her, instead of each other, and Harry tried to soften his gaze. The girl didn’t have anything to do with this.

"Your food is here" she mumbled, setting it down quickly before walking away.

Harry stared at the food. He didn’t remember ordering it.

There was something bothering him (there were a lot of things bothering him at the moment), but, he hated being in the wrong, and he didn’t like how this situation had turned around. Now Louis seemed to be mad at him, when Harry was supposed to be the angry one.

After a few more moments of tense chewing, he gave in.

"Why’re you always defending Zayn?"

He wasn’t sure why he started with that, Louis seemed just as surprised that that’s how he chose to begin, but it was something thing that bothered him about this whole thing.

"What?"

"I mean, you always side with him"

"He’s my best mate.

/I’m your boyfriend/.

He didn’t have to say it, they were both aware of the words hanging in between them.

"You always side with Nick"

"No I don’t"

"I-"

"Trust me. I know that Nick can be an arse sometimes, but I don’t let him get away with it. You just… you just don’t do anything, even when it’s pretty obvious that Zayn’s got some sort of problem with me"

"Zayn doesn’t – "

"And that’s another thing" he interrupted quickly, "you just seem to ignore everything – everything that’s wrong. Like, I tell you that someone clearly doesn’t like me, and you call me crazy. I try to talk to you about Denise, but it’s like you don’t see that there’s a problem at all!"

Was he making sense? He didn’t think he was making sense. He couldn’t think straight when he got worked up.

"That’s because there isn’t a problem!" Louis pushed his plate away, face a storm of emotions, and Harry couldn’t read them. All he knew is that his words /hurt/.

"There wouldn’t be a problem, if you didn’t have a boyfriend!"

"I’m really sorry to interrupt" their waitress was back, her face red, and voice meek, "but my manager said that if you can’t lower your voices, he’s gonna have to ask you to leave" she sounded scared, and that alone was enough for Harry to snap out of his angry state.

"Yeah, yeah, course, sorry. We’re just gonna go" he pulled his wallet out, slapped a £20 pound note on the table, "is that- " he ran his fingers through his hair, "is that enough to cover it?"

The girls nodded, her relief clear to see, and the both of them quietly got up, quickly walking out of the restaurant.

When they were a fair distance away from the restaurant they stopped. Turned to look at each other. Harry shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoody, thankful he was wearing it at all when it was over 18 degrees outside.

"Why did you even – "

He stopped.

"What?" Louis prompted him. Harry wasn’t so sure he wanted to ask though. He wasn’t so sure he wanted an answer.

"Why are you even with me?"

"What?" Louis frowned, stepping closer. Harry refused to back away, refused to cross his arms across his chest, like he really wanted to.

"It’s just – you don’t’ really seem like you want to be in a relationship at all"

"Of course I do. I wouldn’t have asked – "

"Why did you ask in the first place?" that was another question he’d wanted an answer to right from the beginning, though he’d refused to ask it, not wanting to come across as needy. He abhorred that very idea, and still, here he was.

"I-"

He took a miniscule step away. To Harry it felt like a mile-long distance.

"Don’t" he pleaded, and something in his voice got through to Louis, because he stepped forward again, hands going to Harry’s waist, holding him firmly. Neither of them were allowed to leave.

"I… a couple years ago, when we’d just started fresh-man year, before I got in the football team and everything," he waved a hand in the air, as if that told the rest of the story, before setting it back on Harry’s hip, "I might’ve…" he cleared his throat, "I might’ve had a crush on you"

Harry blinked.

Frowned.

"What?"

Moving his weight around, Louis’ fingers clenched where he was still holding on to Harry.

"Harry"

"You can’t have"

"I did" Louis nodded, a half- smile, half-grimace on his face, as if it pained him to admit this.

Knowing Louis, it probably did.

"Wh-why. How?" he wasn’t sure what to ask first, thoughts jumbled, how could Louis have liked him, when back then Harry didn’t even know he existed?

Louis shrugged, movements stiff.

"But I didn’t-

"Know who I was. Yeah I know. I don’t think you were very interested in knowing anyone at the time. I’m pretty sure the whole school tried to talk to you at some point, but you were always with those stupid phone plugged in, and walking around like you were happy to be a complete loner."

"But" he wanted to mention how that hadn’t exactly changed this year either, but what escaped his mouth was "why now then?", which was probably more important anyway.

"I, um, funny you should ask, actually" he smiled, fingers tapping Harry on the side, "it was Zayn who convinced me"

The surprises would never end, apparently.

"I, what?" he spluttered, did Louis know another Zayn that Harry wasn’t aware of?

"Yeah" he chuckled, more amused than uncomfortable now, "He was the first friend I made in freshman year, so he always knew, that, like, even though, I was with other people, you were always kind of there you know, in the back of my mind"

Harry gaped at him, aware that he was doing it, but unable to get himself together.

"You- you can’t be serious"

"Oh? And why not Curly?"

He was grinning unabashedly now, enjoying Harry’s reaction, no doubt.

"Because! I don’t know! You didn’t even know me!"

"I knew a lot about you"

"So!? /I/ knew a lot about you before we started dating, which is why I didn’t want to date you in the first place!”

"But… if you knew me like you do now, would you still have said no?"

Harry paused, looking at him. Louis looked a little bit unsure, a little bit hopeful, and very vulnerable all at the same time.

He thought about it, how often Louis annoyed him, and how much he made him smile. How surprised he’d been when he’d seen how genuine his friendship with his team-mates was, how he worried about Niall, and talked about Harry to his mum. He thought of how stubborn they both were, how proud. He thought that was okay as long as they both learned to give in a little.

And then he wondered when he’d become so sappy.

Ugh.

He bit his lip, but there was a smile threatening there and Louis knew it.

"No"

"No? No what?" he came closer.

"No, I wouldn’t have said no"

"Yeah?"

"Loouis" Harry grumbled, only quieting once Louis’ lips were on his. Harry kissed him back, eager, hands clenching on Louis’ shoulders, and pushing himself forward so they were touching all the way down to their knees. He couldn’t help the noise that escaped his lips once Louis put his mouth on his neck, sucking a kiss there right under his earlobe, hands sliding down on his back.

God, they were in the middle of the pavement.

Reluctantly he pulled away, though Louis put up a resistance, hands squeezing on to Harry.

"Lou, Lou there are people around"

Not many, but enough to make him self-conscious, so putting his hands on Louis’ chest he pushed himself away, and finally Louis let him go, obviously unhappy about it.

"Fine" he smiled, lewd, "lets get out of here then"


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it everyone. Last chapter. Only took over a year or something. Thanks for reading.

This is it, over a year later, the last chapter. Thanks to everyone that took an interest in it.

Of course, in their moment of excitement, they’d forgotten the fact that they were at Gemma’s, and to put it simply they’d never get any privacy in there.

They had exchanged a glance as they walked in, their private bubble burst the moment they’d stepped inside and immediately decided it was time they bid their goodbyes.

If anyone was suspicious to the reason why, they didn’t let it show.

He gave his sister a last hug, promising to call her later.

‘If I were you’ she said, quiet enough that only he would hear it, ‘I’d keep him. Not a lot of people out there would put up with you and treat you the way he does’

‘How does he treat me?’

He suspected he knew what Gemma was going to say but he wanted to hear it anyway.

‘Like he’s absolutely backwards in love with you’

Harry grinned all throughout their goodbye hugs and well into the journey, and wasn’t even bothered when Louis kept poking at his face, demanding to know why he was so ‘smiley’.

‘Is it because of me? It’s because of me isn’t it?’ He poked at his dimple again.

‘Looou, I’m driving’ he snapped his teeth at Louis’ finger, biting it gently when Louis let it be caught. The answering noise he made had Harry stepping harder on the accelerator.

He got out of the M5 once he saw the sign for a petrol station. His mum hated getting the car back with the tank low.

‘D’ya want a snack?’

Harry nodded, picking up the pump as Louis left in the direction of the little Tesco Express.

Having paid, Harry waited for Louis by the car; he could see him from where he was, waiting in line. Catching his eye, Louis lifted up the bag of Hula-Hoopsfor approval, and Harry gave him a thumbs-up.

Harry watched him as he walked back, eyes glued onto his form. Louis was in a tight pair of white jeans and a t-shirt, and it was impossible not to look at him. Harry had always had a thing for those thighs.

‘Hey Curly, ready to go?’

He nodded, hands going to Louis’ hips to pull him into a slow kiss. He had a thing for kissing him too.

They kept in the embrace for a few more minutes, Louis petting at his sides and Harry sighing happily.

‘You know I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad we talked’ Louis said.

Harry sighed again, ‘me too’

‘We’re okay now, aren’t we?’

‘Yeah. We’re good’

Harry drove the rest of the way home with their hands joined in the middle.

 

Out late,

the note said, don’t wait up.

They had time, and they had privacy. Smiling he put the note down and went to find Louis.

He found him on the sofa, attention taken by his phone. Quietly, Harry approached, and by the time Louis looked up, Harry was already on his lap, straddling him.

‘Whoa Curly, some warning might be nice’

Harry ignored him in order to start kissing down his jaw.

‘Oh’ Louis sighed, hands setting on Harry’s thighs.

'Louis' Harry said in between planting kisses to his skin, 'mum's out'

'Yeah, I know Curly'

'I mean, she’s going to be out for a while’

Louis’ breath stuttered.

'How long of a while?'

'Long enough'

'Curly -

Impatient, Harry cut him off with his lips, hands on Louis’ shoulders and it wasn’t long before Louis was answering in kind, hands sliding up and down Harry’s thighs in a way that made Harry want to press closer.

He pulled back to get Louis out of his t-shirt, lifting up on his knees in order to get them up over Louis’ arms. When they settled back into each other, Louis’ hands were on his bum.

Harry nestled himself on his hands, loving the way they grabbed at him, and feeling needy he pulled Louis’ mouth back on his.

Louis pulled away soon after, reaching for Harry’s shirt and Harry helpfully lifted his arms up, glad to be rid of it. The rest of their clothes went the same way, quick and awkward as they tried not to separate. Louis pulled back again to ask whether they should move to his room, but Harry didn’t fancy the walk there, so he just shook his head, and pulled Louis on top of him.

He only regretted his decision much later when his skin, shiny with sweat, stuck to the fabric of the couch, and when with every breath he took, he smelled the evidence of what they’d done.

'Am I squishing you?'

Harry threw his arms around him in answer, ‘don’t move’

'You know, we might end up stuck together if we don't move soon'

Harry sighed, irritated. Was it too much to ask for a few minutes to bask in his afterglow?

'Can't you stay still for five minutes?' he grumbled, pushing him away.

'Sorry'

He peered up at Louis, not expecting the apologetic look on his face, ‘I just feel like I might be hurting you’

Harry took that in, thinking what the hell, ‘I like it’ he admitted. Felt his face warm up.

Louis leaned back on his elbows, arched his eyebrow at him in that infuriating manner Harry couldn’t copy, ‘You like me hurting you?’

‘No!’ He should’ve known Louis couldn’t be serious for too long.

‘Um’ Louis nosed at his throat, letting his weight back on top of him, legs tangled up together. He gave him a kiss, right under his jaw and didn’t say anything else. Strangely, Harry felt like Louis understood exactly what he was talking about.

Later, when they finally decided it was time to move, they went for a shower together, and that ended up with Harry on his knees, grinning up at Louis. He thought Louis had been looking way too pleased with himself and it was time his ego got deflated a bit.

It was a while before they managed to get back into their clothes, not that Harry minded.

His mum called him later to tell him she’d be away for the rest of the week-end.

'Hmm, any interesting reason why?' he asked her, playing with Louis' fingers on his stomach.

'I think so' she was smiling, he could tell.

'M I gonna meet this interesting reason soon?'

'Maybe you will'

Harry grinned, ‘alright then, have fun’

'You too. Say hi to Louis'

Harry blushed stupidly, but there was no reason to deny anything since he’d told her how he’d sorted out things with Louis earlier in the day.

'I will. Love you'

'Love you more'

He hung up shaking his head before settling against Louis again. He focused back on the movie they were watching, ‘mum says hi’

'Does she?'

'Um-hum'

'Sharp lady, your mother'

'Yeah, she knows me too well' he said.

'She's not coming back tonight then?'

Harry said no.

'Probably best. We should really air out your living room a bit before she comes back'

Harry elbowed him, embarrassed, but Louis didn’t stop, grinning, ‘since someone couldn’t keep it in their pants long enough to go to the bedroom’

'Please, as if you didn't like it' letting out a quiet gasp when Louis bit the back of his neck.

'Never said I didn't'

Harry wriggled around until he was facing Louis, his back to the telly. Louis thumbed at his bottom lip and Harry resisted the urge to lick him.

'Can I stay over then?'

Surprised, he looked at him, though Louis took no notice, still focused on his mouth. His thumb was going from one side to the other, left to right. The more he did it the dryer they felt until Harry was forced to wet them. He saw the way Louis swallowed when the tip of his tongue touched his finger and thought that that had been Louis’ plan all along.

'Umm?' he went, reminding Harry they were in the middle of a conversation.

'You…you're actually asking?'

Louis’ gaze flicked up to meet his, confused, ‘yes?’

There wasn’t a lot more talking after that.

Harry woke up on Sunday with his nose buried into the warm skin of Louis’ neck and a leg thrown overs Louis’ waist. He tried to pull away slowly, only to find Louis’ blue eyes peering up at him. Of course he was already awake.

'Going somewhere?'

Harry groaned something about going to the loo, but didn’t move. Louis’ hand was on his hair and Harry knew how to appreciate a head-massage. It included not moving and making encouraging noises so Louis wouldn’t stop. Not that he would, he’d always had a fixation on his hair.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure.

They got up late enough to have breakfast for lunch, and afterwards Harry sat Louis down so he’d help him with his homework. His maths homework for example was desperately in need of some attention. Louis whined and stalled, and Harry couldn’t help but hate him a little when his work was done in a shorter time than his whining had taken.

Some people had everything.

They were on the couch when his mum arrived that evening; Harry, watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory and Louis on his phone, texting, which Harry only found acceptable because Louis’ free hand was back on his hair.

‘Hello darlings’ his mum called out from the hallway, where he could hear her shucking off her shoes and dropping her keys on the side table.

Harry sent her a wave once she appeared, too lazy to get up from his spot on the couch where he was laying with his head on Louis’ lap.

‘Did you have a nice week-end?’ she asked as she took a seat on the smaller couch, legs curled up towards her middle. It had been a while since he’d last seen his mum smiling so brightly. He wondered whether she saw the same smile on his own face.

‘Well, we had a shaky start’ Louis told her, though she’d already known, ‘but it got better’

‘Oh?’ his mum’s eyes were twinkling as she looked at him, and Harry turned his face into Louis’ thigh to hide the blush everyone knew was there.

‘Yeah, it was really nice’ he mumbled.

Louis tugged at a lock of his hair and Harry didn’t need to look at him to see the smug smile on his face.

 

They made diner. Anne and Harry trying to keep Louis away from anything sharp or hot. It was in everyone’s best interests really.

‘Are you going to be staying over?’ his mum asked Louis.

Louis took a look a Harry, smiled ‘if you don’t mind, Anne’

‘Course I don’t. But make sure you tell your mum. I don’t want any concerned parents calling in the middle of the night.

When Harry offered to tidy everything up, she bid them goodnight with a smile and one kiss for each. Harry couldn’t help but notice it; she’d never done that to Nick even though the two of them talked often (no need for Harry to be there at all) she’d never kissed him.

He made Louis help with the cleaning, so while Louis rinsed, Harry placed everything in the dishwasher.

‘You are such a mama’s boy’ Louis said whilst they worked. Harry shrugged with a grin on his face.

‘If you’re doing that to impress me, then I got to say, there’s no need for it love’

Harry startled – and so did his heart – at the endearment, and it was hard to play it casual when handling breakable objects with hands that were slippery (and a bit shaky)

‘I think if I was trying to impress you, I wouldn’t choose doing the dishes as the way to go’ Harry said, taking a quick peek at Louis, face still hot.

‘Why not?’ he asked. He hadn’t seemed to notice what he said or even Harry’s reaction to it, which both calmed Harry down and disappointed him.

‘Well, not exactly sexy is it?’ he asked, ‘unless you have a thing for domestic chores’

Louis didn’t answer.

‘Wait, you do? You find this attractive don’t you? That I offered to help mum? What would you do if you saw me playing with a puppy or something? Jump me?’ he teased.

Louis scowled, rolling his eyes at him, ‘I’ve seen you baking cookies and playing dress up with my little sisters. Seeing you go around with a puppy wouldn’t do anything for me’

‘So, I am right?’

Louis ignored him again. Harry felt like bursting out into giggles.

‘Harry’ Louis said, seeing his face.

‘Sorry, sorry. It’s okay though, you shouldn’t be embarrassed about that’

When Louis didn’t answer, Harry decided to take drastic measures by plastering himself to his back, arms going round Louis’ waist.

‘Loou, you shouldn’t. I mean, I think most people are into that really’

Louis twisted around so he was facing Harry, ‘are you?’

‘Weeell’ Harry grinned, resisting the urge to either bite at his lips or shove his hands in his pockets (he’d rather keep them on Louis) but his next words came a little quieter, and he thought it was that that made Louis finally meet his eye.

‘Seeing how you are with your sisters is really lovely’

‘Really?’ the corner of his lips twitched up, and when Harry saw the tender way Louis was looking at him, he had to lean in against Louis, because his legs didn’t feel very stable anymore. He took one second to thank higher forces that Louis couldn’t hear his thoughts before he leaned in to kiss him.

People were staring. Pointedly, rudely staring. Harry had no idea why. Niall took one look at them and declared, with an expression of mixed disgust and fascination, ‘you two had sex, didn’t you?’

Harry blushed to the tip of his ears while Louis’ chest puffed out proudly. So maybe they weren’t being very subtle, but – and Harry would never ever admit this to anyone – it had been really nice waking up with Louis this morning, it had felt different from previous times. And well, maybe they hadn’t wanted to let go and Harry had had to trip around Louis whilst cooking breakfast, and maybe they were walking around school so completely intertwined it was a wonder they could walk at all, with Harry hugging Louis sideways and Louis’ right hand shoved into his back-pocket. Harry still didn’t think that was reason for people to be rude. Besides they should be used to it by now.

‘Well’ Louis started, a positively wicked gleam in his eyes, ‘if you must know –

‘Lou!’ Harry cut him off, biting his shoulder hard in punishment. Louis hissed, ‘wild, this one is. Don’t be fooled by his innocent face’

‘You’re going to be unbearable now aren’t you?’ Niall asked.

‘What, like they aren’t already?’ Danny asked, popping up behind Niall, hair a mess.

‘Yeah, they’re gonna get worse’

‘Why? Is that even possible?’

‘Oh apparently they did the dirty’ Niall waggled his eyebrows at them. Harry glared at him.

‘Fucking finally. Took you long enough’

Harry transferred his glare onto the dark-haired boy, ‘um, excuse me, but may I remind you that this is none of your business?’

‘Louis always tell us about this stuff’ Niall said, carelessly, and Louis was the next one to get the force of his glare.

‘Well he better not’

‘I won’t babe’ he leaned in to kiss him, but Harry ducked, knowing it was a distraction tactic.

‘I’m going to class’ he told them, and just barely managed to contain his smile when Louis scrambled to follow, Niall and Danny right behind.

Later at lunch, the conversation was revolving around Louis’ favourite theme: football. Again. Harry picked at his food, a lot more grumpy now than he’d been in the morning.

The girls were discussing practise time. The boys were talking about practise, and it was only Louis’ arm around his waist that stopped him from feeling completely left out. He focused on the motion of Louis’ thumb rubbing of his hipbone, thoughts going back to the weekend.

Teen sex was a topic that was over-dramatized. Because to Harry at least, most of it had been awkward and uncomfortable, the only thing that had kept him going was the hope of it getting better. The first few times had been just plain bad. He was glad therefore that both Louis and he already had some experience before getting together, because it had gone way better than he’d expected. Nowhere close to perfect, of course not, but really good nonetheless. In fact, Harry thought, squirming around in place, that he couldn’t wait to try it again. Finally a bright side to this relationship business, they had the ‘practise makes perfect’ thing to look forward to.

‘Curly? Where have you gone off to?’

Harry startled back to the present, groaning internally, he’d been having such nice thoughts.

‘Nowhere?’ he tried.

‘You haven’t been listening’ Louis accused.

‘Course I have, you’ve been talking about the game and practise and stuff’ he thought it was a pretty good summarisation, but Louis didn’t look impressed.

‘Okay, sorry, I was just thinking’

‘Argh, stop that right this instant’ said Sara who was sitting across from him, ‘it’s dangerous’ she grinned.

‘Hey, no picking on Curly’

‘Or teasing or flirting’ said Danny.

‘Or touching’ Niall added.

They all laughed and even Harry had to smile when he saw Louis blushing.

‘Oh shut up’ Louis told them.

Directly across from their school, only a narrow street away, was a small playground. A couple of swings a slide and a seesaw. One picnic table. It didn’t get used very much because of its proximity to a school where most students were over the age of fourteen. Mostly it was used by the older students who had free periods.

That Wednesday afternoon the playground was empty, with the exception of Harry and Louis, who should be in class but weren’t. They were sitting on one of the two benches. Well Louis was, Harry was on his lap.

‘I’m a bad student’ Harry said, face resting on Louis’ shoulder.

‘You’re just realising that?’

‘Loou’ he whined, ‘I really should be in class’

‘Nah’ Louis disagreed, ‘the best place for you is right here. Besides it’s probably best for you to get some distance from that crazy teacher of yours’

Ah yes, Miss Brown, the flirty teacher. Harry snickered.

‘I have to finish my coursework though’

‘Stop complaining Curly, it’s not like you can just waltz in there half-way through the lesson anyway’

‘Wanna bet?’

‘That woman’s got an unhealthy obsession with you’ Louis said solemnly.

‘Is an obsession ever healthy?’

‘You’ve got a mouth on you today, huh Curly?’

‘Don’t be silly Lou, I’ve got a mouth on me every day’

Louis let out an exasperated sigh, before his grin was back in place, ‘wanna put that mouth to some good use?’

‘Urgh’ Harry groaned, ‘so, so cheesy’

‘You love it’

Harry didn’t deny it.

On Thursday Louis asked Harry whether he was going to the game exactly eight times. Harry, whose patience had ran out five times ago, only glared now when Louis asked him yet again.

‘You’re coming to the game tomorrow, right Curly?’

‘Louis if you ask me that one more time…’

‘I’m just checking!’

 

‘You’re already checked! Several times’

Louis’ lips were pursed, stubborn, and Harry knew he wasn’t going to win this one, so for what he hoped was the last time he said, ‘yes Louis, I’m going to the game tomorrow’

Louis went back to smiling immediately, leaning over the console to give him a good-bye kiss.

‘Okay!’ he said brightly, ‘see you tomorrow Curly’

Harry sighed, obligingly offering his lips up for a last peck, ‘see you’

‘Don’t forget the jacket!’ Louis called out before driving away.

Harry sighed.

　

He was wearing it. He was wearing the jacket whilst trying to look like he wasn’t. He wasn’t succeeding. Ed, who he’d convinced to come with him, was looking all sorts of amused, not even trying to hide it.

He took a seat, on the front row. It was still quite early, not dark yet even though it was nearly 7pm. There weren’t many people around, the game wouldn’t be starting for another 30 minutes or so, but the team was already out on the field, warming up.

"Stop squirming. There’s nobody here" Ed told him, smirk set firmly in place.

"I think that makes it worse actually"

"Why d’ya drag me over here so early then?"

Harry shrugged, he’d thought coming in early would make him feel better. Now he thought it just made it the more obvious. He could almost feel the outline of the word Tomlinson burning through the fabric.

Rolling his eyes, Ed tried to reassure him, “no one will notice it H”

"Yes they are"

Harry turned around to Louis standing there, Liam and Niall behind him like the groupies they were. His face was already flushed from the warm up, but he was smiling, eyes fixed on Harry with such intent, that he was starting to feel his own face get hot.

"Thanks Lou" he mumbled.

"Oh, don’t worry Harry" Niall threw his arm over his shoulder, movements lively, "it looks good on you"

"That it does" Louis agreed, eyes making that up-and-down trajectory that made Harry’s skin break out in goose-bumps, ‘now would you get off him Niall?"

Immediately replacing him once Niall stepped back, he said “hey babe” voice low on Harry’s ear.

Trying not to shiver, Harry turned around to look at him

‘Hey Lou. Ready for the game?’

‘Course. And now that you’re here, we can’t lose it’

Next to them Niall huffed, ‘you know he only serves as encouragement for you right? What about the rest of us?’

‘Don’t worry Niall, I’m sure Haz will give you a hug if you score. A little kiss if you’re lucky’ Ed said, laughing.

Niall’s nose wrinkled, ‘Er, no thanks. Louis might kill me. I’ll take the hug though!’ he cheered up.

‘Aww’

‘I’m sure you’ll find plenty of people to hug you if we win’ Louis cut in, hands pulling Harry closer before he could go anywhere.

‘Noooo’ Niall cried out, dramatically throwing his arms out towards Harry, ‘you can’t keep us apart!’

Louis rolled his eyes, whilst around him everyone laughed. For a second Harry almost forgot, about the jacket draped across his back, but then Louis tugged at the hemline, hand sneaking under his t-shirt, and Harry curled in closer to hide his red face on Louis’ shoulder.

‘You guys are so cute’ Ed said, a grossed out look on his face.

‘Yes’ Niall agreed, frowning, ‘I think I’m gonna go call El actually’

‘Wait, Niall - Liam started but the boy was already too far away. He turned back around to exchange a look with Louis, and sighed.

‘Here’s to hoping she actually means it’ Louis said darkly.

Harry shrugged at Ed’s questioning glance; it wasn’t really his place to talk about it.

‘Anyway, coach’ll be wanting us back’ and started off towards where their team was just about to walk into the changing room. Louis followed more slowly, arm still around Harry.

‘Erm, Lou, you know I’m not in your team right?

‘Oh, but you are’ he sing-sang.

‘Lou’ Harry stopped them, ‘go on then’

‘You’ll watch the whole game right?’

Harry nodded.

Louis narrowed his eyes, ‘and you’ll wear the jacket for the whole game?

‘Erm’

‘Nuh-uh-uh. We made a deal, remember?’

Harry sighed and tried to hide his smile.

'Now…' he slid an arm around Harry's waist, pulling him closer, 'about my good luck kiss…'

His face was warm and his smile unstoppable by the time he got back to his seat, and he ignored the smirk Ed was sending his way. He took a sip of his water, trying to cool himself down.

'A bit hot here huh?' Ed snorted in response, and Harry ignored that too.

People started arriving quickly then, and Harry tried not to tense up, feeling annoyed with himself. He shouldn’t care so much about what people thought of him; he’d never had.

The crowd cheered once the girls came out, with their black pleated skirts and cropped red tops, pom-poms in hand and smiles in place. Harry joined in when he caught sight of Perrie, Danielle and Jade, fingers going into his mouth for a loud whistle.

Soon later the teams came back out and everyone stood up to cheer their welcome. Harry followed after Ed punched his shoulder. He didn’t actually want to be mistaken for a cheerleader.

Twenty minutes into the game and Harry wondered whether he was getting egocentric. He didn’t want to think it, but it really seemed to him that Louis was…showing off.

‘Someone’s feisty tonight’ Ed whistled, watching as Louis ran so far ahead of the others, it was comical.

‘Um’ fingers in his mouth and eyes glued on Louis’ form, he watched as Louis swang a leg and kicked the ball towards the golly.

Harry was the first one on his feet as the ball hit the net, cheering whilst Ed chanted ‘yes!’ repeatedly next to him. On the field, Louis was being hugged by both Niall and Danny, and Harry watched, still hopping about in his excitement as Louis swirled around to face him. Their eyes met and Louis grinned before pointing at him. Blushing to the tip of his ears, Harry blew him a kiss, pleased with the way Louis’ smile widened.

'Harry!'

'Hey Pez, Jade'

'Isn't this exciting?' Perrie asked, throwing her arms around him in a hug.

'Very' he'd meant to say it sarcastically, but it came out breathless, and he found he didn't care very much.

'Yeah, and if we win today we go to the finals' Jade told him. Harry grinned, 'you guys are looking pretty good too' he told them, taking a look at the rest of the girls huddled around on the front seats only a few feet to his right. Most of them were spread out on the sides of the pitch, bottles of water in hand, taking a break.

'Thank you, thank you' Jade flipped her hair around, 'though I still think Dee's got a long way to go' she tacked on, throwing the girl a dark look. None of them seemed too fond of her. It pleased Harry to no end.

'Have you noticed she's been looking at these parts quite often?' Next to him, Ed snorted, 'she's not the only one'

'I can't imagine why people would be looking around here' Perrie said, eyes glinting as she took Harry in, 'can't possibly be anything to do with you and your trendy new jacket can it?'

Harry thought that was a great exaggeration. Yeah, some people had been giving him second glances, but only those sitting close enough to him to see it. Thankfully his school-mates weren’t crazy enough yet to pass on the message around like a massive round of Chinese-whispers. At least he didn’t think so. There were a lot of people on their phones.

She was looking way too smug for Harry’s tastes. He nudged her shoulder, ‘Pez’

'What, come on. Everybody knows what this means, that's why they're looking!'

'And what does it mean?' he challenged her, regretting it almost immediately.

'It means' she dragged on the word, 'that he's serious about you'

Ed groaned. Harry rolled his eyes.

'That's ridiculous' he told her, repeating it to himself for good measure, hoping it would stop his stomach from fluttering around too much. He already knew that Louis was serious about him - and hadn't that been a difficult enough conversation? - the jacket didn't mean anything more than Louis wanting to wind him up.

'It's not ridiculous!' Jade said, indignant.

'Jade' he started, but was quickly cut off, 'I think it's a really sweet thing to do. It's not about the jacket, it's about him telling everyone that you're together, and that he's proud of it'

They stared at her. Harry welcomed back his butterflies.

'Well' not knowing what else to say his eyes zoomed back in on Louis. However Jade wasn't finished, 'and you really should just stop lying to yourself, because you like wearing that jacket and knowing that Louis wants everyone to know you're with him'

'Um'

Jade smiled, looking pleased wtih herself, before tugging Perrie along with her, going back to their group, ‘C’mon Pez, before Tay gets a heart attack’

They went.

'She's a feisty one isn't she?'

'Yeah…never knew she had that in her' Jade was always lovely and one of the bubbliest person Harry knew. That fierce side of her was a nice surprise, even if it was turned against him.

'She was right you know' Ed stated, his hands in the pockets of his hoody - even though it was nearly 19 degrees outside. He looked awkward.

'Not you too'

'No I mean it. Honestly, I wouldn't even bring it up otherwise. But you got to admit, he's come a long way from the guy who ditched you at some girl's party'

'I guess' he shrugged. Ed was right, things were - well they were pretty great between him and Louis now, but that didn't mean he was about to admit to it.

Ed chuckled, ‘man, I’m glad I’m not the one dating you’

Harry turned around to look at him, insulted, ‘hey!’

'Sorry mate, but you're a bit of a handful, aren't ya?'

'Excuse me if I've got standards'

'Yeah, and they sure are high' he laughed.

'I need better friends' Harry grumbled.

Harry rummaged his back for some snacks.

‘She’s really gonna be giving you evils all night eh?’

‘Umm?’ he looked up from his extremely unsatisfying bag of crisps. Ed raised his brows, taking a quick glance right. Harry followed his line of sight, and immediately spotted the ‘evils’ Ed was talking about.

It was Denise. Luckily, evil glances didn’t actually kill, or they both might be dead already. Harry looked away.

The score was tied at 1-1 by half-time. And the team looked a bit more run-down than they did at the beginning. Harry who’d been biting at his fingers for the past fifteen minutes, jumped up at the opportunity to go talk to Louis, as they all came back from the changing rooms. Louis face was set into a stubborn frown, and Harry who’d been walking slowly on the edges of the field, hesitated, weary.

He needn’t have worried.

Louis’ face broke out into a smile once he caught sight of Harry.

‘Everything okay?’

‘Course’ he said before pulling Harry into a hug.

‘Really okay?’ Harry asked again, lips right next to Louis’ ear.

‘I might be a bit nervous’ he admitted.

Harry hugged him harder, wishing there was something he could do to make him feel better.

‘I’ve absolutely no doubt that you guys are going to win’ he told him honestly. Louis sighed, relaxing.

And then they were interrupted, and Harry was being pushed off and away from Louis.

‘Tommo!’

It was Denise. Throwing herself on Louis. Nothing unusual.

‘Dee’ Louis smiled, hands on her shoulders to lightly push her away, ‘alright babe?’ he asked her, throwing an uneasy look Harry’s way. But Harry didn’t mind too much. He’d been upgraded to love after all.

‘Yeah’ she smiled. She looked particularly orange today, but maybe that was just the lightning?

‘you’re amazing out there’ she touched his arm.

No, she was definitely more orange today, Harry thought, meanly.

At that Louis grinned. Of course he did, throw a little bit of flattery his way and you could get anything out of him. Harry made a harrumph sound and Louis immediately controlled his facial muscles.

‘Thank babe’ Louis’ hand was reaching out for Harry, but unfortunately Denise got to Louis before he did. She did have the advantage of already being unacceptably close to him.

Harry stopped, staring open-mouthed at the scene. If his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, then Denise was kissing Louis. Actually kissing him. Right on the lips.

‘For good luck’ she said coyly once she pulled away.

Harry started towards her, intent on ripping all that fake hair off her head, but Louis quickly moved in to stop him.

‘Louis’ he said through his teeth.

‘Harry. Babe’

‘Don’t call me that!’

‘Okay, okay. Just, calm down okay? You can’t hit her’

Harry inched forwards, ‘I won’t do anything Perrie wouldn’t’

Louis laughed – laughed! – ‘it doesn’t quite work that way babe’

‘If you call me that again…’

‘Sorry’ he jumped forwards, arms going around him in a restraining hug. Harry tried to pull away, but Louis held on.

‘Louis’ he struggled the word out, getting angrier the longer he held onto him.

‘Why are you defending her?!’

‘I’m not, babe, I’m not, promise’

‘Everything alright?’ Harry recognised Ed’s voice, but didn’t answer, focused on yanking himself away.

‘I told you not to call me that!’ he shouted.

‘I know –

‘Guys?’

‘Whatever. Fine’ Harry took a deep breath, it was very rare for him to shout, so he tried to pull himself together, hands clenched tightly together in front of him, ‘go back to your game Louis’

‘Harry!’

He went back to his seat. He wouldn’t leave, but he didn’t want to stay. He wanted more crisps, and a boyfriend that didn’t go around kissing other people.

‘You okay mate?’ Ed, who’d followed after him asked.

Harry grunted.

‘You know he was stopping you for your own good, right? Imagine how much trouble you’d be in if you hit her?’

‘Ed, don’t’ Harry knew he was right, and he didn’t want to hear it. Instead he took off the jacket; Jade’s earlier words circling around in his head. Showing everyone that they were together. Right. He snorted, derisive. Louis hadn’t even tried to stop her! Also where were his crisps?!

‘Well he was really caught off guard there’ Ed said, and Harry realised he’d said that out loud.

‘Yeah, right. Bet he liked it. The attention’ he munched angrily.

‘You know that’s not true’

Maybe. He liked being reassured though.

‘Do I?’

‘Yes. You must know by now Harry, the guy doesn’t have eyes for anyone but you. When exactly did this happen anyway?’

‘What?’

‘When did I start giving you crappy relationship advice? This is ridiculous’

Harry let out a smile, ‘sorry mate. Appreciate it though. Even if it is crappy’

‘Yeah, yeah’

They focused back on the game. It wasn’t going well. Not the game in general, the boys were playing just as well as they had been in the first half. It was Louis that was the problem.

‘God this is painful’ Ed muttered when Louis missed another pass. He was still an amazing player, but his attention was obviously divided; he’d focus on the game for a bit and then twist around to look for Harry. Harry had looked away the first few times, nose up in the air, but in spite of how upset he still was, he was starting to get worried. This was important to Louis, he didn’t want to be the reason he messed it up.

He went back to biting his fingers, eyes only moving away from Louis to look at Denise, secretly hoping that someone would accidently punch her in the face.

Coach called time. The game was at 2-2 and there was still another twenty minutes to go, but coach Carter wasn’t known for being patient. As soon as the boys were gathered around, he went off. Harry couldn’t hear what he was saying from here, the level of noise was just too high for it to be possible, but Coach couldn’t be saying anything nice by the look on the team’s face.

‘You’ve got to talk to him’

‘I can’t’ he was being honest too. Coach would never let him, especially in the mood he was.

Harry’s anger had abated to give way to his worry, and he couldn’t help but soften further when he saw that even with Coach Carter chewing him out, Louis’ gaze was still seeking out Harry.

As if to make sure he was still there.

Harry waited (not very long) for Louis’ eyes to settle back on him before slowly, deliberately shrugging back into his jacket.

‘Oh my god’ Ed muttered, eyes going back and forth between Harry and Louis, but Harry wasn’t paying attention. Instead his eyes were on Louis who was very obviously ignoring Coach now. Harry unsuccessfully tried to stop his smile.

He was still mad. Really. He looked away.

Ed snorted, ‘that’s pathetic’

‘What?’

‘He’s so, so whipped man’

Harry shifted.

‘Go on, blow him a kiss’

‘No’ he rolled his eyes at him, knocking their shoulders together.

‘Go on’ Ed insisted, forcibly turning his head, so Louis was in his line of vision again.

‘See? He’s waiting’

He was. Hesitating by the side-lines whilst his team-mates spread around on the field. Harry didn’t blow him a kiss (Louis’d had enough kisses for today, he thought sardonically) but he made a shooing motion with his hand that had Louis grinning and hurrying back into place.

They won. Harry had managed to forget his anger for the moment and focus back on the game, so when everyone jumped to their feet once the whistle sounded, he did too, bouncing around the place as Ed hollered and whistled next to him.

‘You going to find him?’ Ed asked, voice raised.

Harry hesitated for a moment, thoughts of how Louis hadn’t pushed Denise away back in mind. Seeing him vacillating, Ed’s patience snapped.

‘Oh for god’s sake just go’ and pushed him.

Harry stumbled forward, turning around to send him a last glare before he started toward the pitch. It wasn’t that easy however, seeing as everyone else had the same plan in mind, but thankfully he’d been on the second row up. Now all he had to do was find Louis.

Before he could, someone was grabbing him by the shoulders. To his surprise it was Zayn.

‘Zayn’ he said. They hadn’t exactly been seeing eye to eye this past week, so he was justified in being weary.

‘Hi Harry’ he took a step back, but the place was crowded and there wasn’t anywhere for him to go.

‘I just. I wanted to say I’m sorry’

Harry’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead.

‘Did Perrie tell you to?’

Zayn laughed awkwardly, ‘kinda, but I really mean it. I don’t have anything against you, you know? I was just jealous, and being a dick and handling it badly’

‘That you were’ Harry agreed, but he wasn’t one to hold grudges, ‘but I accept your apology. Does this mean Perrie finally agreed to go out with you?’

‘Yeah’ he smiled at the ground, shuffling his feet, and Harry thought he knew the reason why she’d said yes if that was how he looked when he’d asked her.

There was no trace of arrogance in his face now; just a sort of shy, uncertain happiness, as if he couldn’t believe it had actually happened. Harry grinned, he couldn’t wait to ask Perrie for the details, ‘good on you mate’ he clapped him on the shoulder and Zayn’s smile widened, ‘but seriously, if she said yes, what the hell are you doing here with me?’

Zayn laughed, ‘thanks Harry. Oh, and if you’re looking for Louis –‘ he stopped to point, presumably in Louis’ direction, before vanishing again.

Harry turned in the direction Zayn had pointed at. It took him a second, and then his eyes fell on Louis. Louis and Denise. They were in the middle of a conversation, heads bent close together, and the only reason Harry didn’t stomp his way over there, was the look on Denise’s face. Instead he approached cautiously, slightly scared to find out what was going on.

‘Lou?’ he called once he was close enough.

Louis’ eyes met his, and he mouthed a ‘one second love’ at him, before focusing back on Denise.

Harry shuffled around in place nervously, not sure what was happening.

‘Okay babe?’ Louis asked her.

Denise nodded twice, her lip trembled and then, to both Louis and Harry’s horror, she burst into tears. She took one look at Harry, sobbed, and then ran away.

Harry recovered first, moving closer to Louis who was still staring at the spot Denise had just been standing at, eyes wide.

‘Lou?’ Harry said again.

‘Wow’ the boy breathed, ‘some people really don’t deal well with rejection’

Harry rolled his eyes at the hypocrisy, ‘no kidding’ he muttered, before the meaning of what Louis said really sunk in.

‘Wait, what do you mean rejection?’

‘Well’ Louis said, eyes finally meeting Harry’s. He suddenly looked nervous, ‘I thought it was probably best for me to have a talk with her and get things straightened out’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I mean’ he blushed, ‘I made sure she knew that I’m with you, that I’m happy with you and not looking for anyone else’

Harry swallowed, ‘you did?’

Louis shrugged uncomfortably, ‘I didn’t want to give you another reason to want to break up with me’

‘Oh’ Harry breathed, ‘Louis, I wouldn’t break up with you over this’

‘You nearly did a week ago, remember?’

Harry bit his lip, ‘that wasn’t really the reason. Besides, things are different now, aren’t they?’

He hated having to ask that question, hated sounding so young and naïve (no matter that he was) but he had to know.

‘I think so’ he answered, sounding just as unsure as Harry felt, and at that he stepped forward; close enough to touch.

‘You really said that to her?’

‘Yeah, I –‘ he rubbed a hand down his shiny face, ‘Harry you have to know how I feel about you, I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious’

Harry took a deep breath, clenching his hands to stop them shaking. He had an idea, but he wanted to hear him say it.

‘How do you feel about me?’

Louis laughed nervously, and Harry wondered where the confident, asserted Louis he knew had gone.

‘I love you’ he said softly, neither meek nor confident. Just, genuine.

Harry couldn’t stop his smile even if he wanted to (which he didn’t) so he just beamed at Louis, unashamed. It was odd to think he’d been mad at him less than an hour ago.

‘Was that so hard?’ he teased.

‘It was exceedingly painful, if you must know’ he said, seemingly back to himself, ‘dunno why I love you really’

Harry’s internal organs performed another somersault at the words, he had a feeling he wouldn’t tire of hearing them any time soon.

‘Oh, it’s because I’m cute’ he explained, hands falling onto Louis’ hips, ‘adorable, I think you said’

‘Evil more like’ Louis rolled his eyes.

‘Well I did warn you’

‘Shut up and kiss me Curly’

‘You’re all sweaty!’ but the protest was already being hushed by a kiss that left his knees feeling weak.

And of course, because they had perfect timing, that’s when the rest of the team found them. Harry groaned in protest as he found himself in the middle of a group hug, but it was just for show and everyone knew it.

‘We won! We won!’ Danny was saying.

‘We’re going to the finals!’

‘Harry you owe me a hug!’

This time Louis groaned, ‘how many times Niall –

But before he could finish Niall was jumping on him. Harry stumbled back a step, but quickly threw his arms around the energetic boy. Niall was grinning and it was contagious.

‘This was the best game ever! Did you see me score?’

Harry laughed, it had certainly been eventful.

‘I saw. It was brilliant’

‘Hey what about me?’ Danny joked, but suddenly it was like the whole team wanted Harry’s approval.

Harry still could remember a time when he’d been scared of them, intimidated. And now, all he felt was overwhelming fondness, because actually he really liked this boys, even though he was never admitting to it. For Louis however he could make an exception.

‘Lou?’ Harry reached out for Louis’ hand as they all walked towards the parking lot. They were headed to Niall’s.

‘Yeah?’ Louis asked, obviously surprised at the contact. Harry bit his lip, leaning into his side. He wasn’t nervous, he wasn’t.

At least, he shouldn’t be.

‘I forgot something’

Louis frowned, ‘Ed will probably keep it for you’

‘No, Lou. I forgot to tell you something’

‘What? You’re not still mad at me are you?’

‘No! Can you just let me finish please?’

‘Okay?’

They stopped when they reached the car.

‘I love you too’

He saw the way Louis’ whole face softened, how his lips immediately twitched into a smile though he was trying to be casual about it.

‘Aah, is that all?’

Harry nodded, flushed.

And then Louis gave up on the cool attitude, and let himself smile, before pulling Harry in for a kiss.

A loud honk interrupted them.

‘C’mon Tommo, we have a party to get to’

Louis grumbled at the interruption, ‘who cares about the party?’ he asked, and was completely unprepared for the way Harry jumped him.

He would deny doing anything of the sort later. Of course.


End file.
